From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 02:00 PM IST

Indian equity markets stayed in the green early Monday afternoon. There was buying interest in banking, realty, oil and gas and PSU stocks.

At 1:00 p.m., the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, was at 15,429.06, up 261.24 points or 1.72 percent from its closing figure last Friday. It had touched a high of 15,488.06 earlier Monday.

At the same time the broader based S and amp;P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was up by 69.05 points or 1.52 percent at 4,598.55.

The market breadth was positive. On BSE, 1,773 shares advanced, 754 declined and 83 remained unchanged.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)