Equity benchmarks sprang back into the positive terrain in afternoon trade. But the broader market witnessed good amount of action. PSU stocks, banking and oil & gas counters remained traded with losses while realty players posted decent gains. Positive opening on the European bourses also helped lift sentiment.

At 2:20 pm, Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex was trading at 17,028.69, up 56.99 points or 0.34 per cent. The index swayed in a range of 17,097.71 and 16,936.12.

National Stock Exchanges Nifty was at 5096.75, higher by 0.32 per cent or 16.5 points from its precious close. The index touched a high of 5118.65 and low of 5068.05.

Midcaps and smallcaps remained in the limelight. BSE Midcap Index was trading up 0.64 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index climbed 0.93 per cent.

Sectorwise, BSE Realty Index was up 1.3 per cent, BSE Capital Goods Index rose 0.45 per cent and BSE Metal Index advanced 0.12 per cent.

Among Sensex gainers, DLF rose 4.12 per cent, Hero Honda added 2.9 per cent, Bharti Airtel gained 2.42 per cent, ACC advanced 1.26 per cent and Grasim Industries was up 1.07 per cent.

Losers comprised Tata Motors (-1.27%), Wipro (-0.64%), BHEL (-0.5%), ITC (-0.41%) and HDFC Bank (-0.33%).

Market breadth on BSE remained positive with 1721 advances against 1080 declines.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 was up 0.32 per cent, DAX 30 climbed 0.35 per cent and CAC 40 advanced 0.42 per cent.