MUMBAI: Stocks extend gains from the previous session as sentiments turned bullish after the US Federal Reserve maintained benchmark rates near zero. All the sectoral indices were in the green led by realty, metals and oil&gas space.

“Bulls could extend Tuesday’s rally thanks to the Federal Reserve’s move to do nothing on its ultra loose monetary policy. What’s more, the US central bank offered a more optimistic assessment on the state of the labour market.

The Nifty could take a shot at 5300 in the near term, provided global markets remain firm. However, it may take a while for it to touch 5500. On the way down, strong support is now seen at 5100.

One cause for concern of late has been the low traded volume and constant selling by local funds. At the same time, volatility remains pretty low. One may see the main indices consolidate in a range of 5100-5300,” said India Infoline report.

At 9:20 am, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 17488.02, up 108.84 points or 0.60 per cent. It hit a high of 17501.66 and low of 17389.47 in the early trade.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5233.40, up 35.30 points or 0.68 per cent. It touched a high of 5233.85 and low of 5177.15 in trade so far.

“On the daily charts, the range of 17030 – 17240 / 5092 – 5150 where indices were trading for nearly 5 – 6 trading sessions has been broken on the upside. This suggests a further upside in coming trading session. On the upside, if indices trade above 17416 / 5209 they are likely to test 17550 – 17750 / 5250 – 5300 levels. On the downside 17150 / 5126 levels may act support for the day,” said Angel Broking note.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.73 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.71 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index advanced 1.08 per cent, BSE Metal Index moved up 0.94 per cent and BSE Capital Goods Index gained 0.77 per cent.

Jaiprakash Associates (2.06%), DLF (1.71%), TCS (1.43%), Sun Pharma (1.34%) and Tata Steel (1.32%) were amongst the top Sensex gainers.

Hindustan Unilever (-1.26%) and Infosys Technologies (-0.05%) were the only index losers.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1396 advances and 520 declines.

Meanwhile, US stocks rose to a fresh 17-month high on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve held benchmark rates near zero and maintained its pledge to keep them low for an extended period.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 43.83 points, or 0.41 per cent, to end at 10,685.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.95 points, or 0.78 per cent, to finish at 1,159.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 15.80 points, or 0.67 per cent, to close at 2,378.01.

Asian markets were also in the positive territory. Nikkei 225 was up 0.88 per cent, Taiwan Weighted gained 1.27 per cent and Hang Seng moved 1.19 per cent higher.