MUMBAI: Equities began the week on a positive note as investors bought stocks across the board taking cues from Asian peers. Metals, realty and capital goods stocks gained momentum while FMCG space was in the red.

“Indian markets are likely to see a gap-up opening amidst global cues from US as well as Asian markets. The mood is quite upbeat in the global markets, where the major commodities, such as crude, gold, silver are close to or already at 52-week highs.

The positive trigger for our local markets is the advance decline ratio. We think till the time the midcap keeps participating, the markets would remain strong.

The slew of macro-economic data announced so far this month has shown sharp improvement in growth and ease in inflation. Business activity in India's services sector surged to a four-month high in November 2010, driven by robust growth in new orders, a survey showed on Friday,” said LKP Securities note.

At 10:05 am; National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 6,054.30, up 61.50 points or 1.03 per cent. The index touched a high of 6057.75 and low of 6023.25.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 20179.13, up 212.20 points or 1.06 per cent. The index touched a high of 20181.90 and low of 20038.25.

BSE Midcap Index was up 1.22 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index gained 1.40 per cent.

Amongst sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index was up 2.63 per cent, BSE Realty Index moved 2.18 per cent higher and BSE Capital Goods Index added 1.59 per cent. BSE FMCG Index was down 0.09 per cent.

Suzlon Energy (3.87%), Tata Steel (3.59%), Tata Motors (3.43%), Hindalco Industries (3.25%) and Jindal Steel (3.14%) led the Nifty upmove.

Hero Honda (-2.31%), ITC (-1.14%), BPCL (-0.90%) and Power Grid Corporation (-0.30%) were the major losers.