The key benchmark index surged today in line with Asian markets. The benchmark Sensex was up 224 points at 15,067 levels and the Nifty was up 72 points at 4,471 levels.

The Nifty is likely to trade between 4,260 and 4,660 and it would consolidate in this range, said Deven Choksey, MD, K R Choksey Securities.

Realty, metal, technology
 and banking stocks witnessed heavy buying. The realty index on the BSE surged 2.5 per cent and the metal index was up 2.3 per cent. The BSE technology index advanced 2 per cent.

Among the Sensex stocks, Reliance Infra led the gainers. The stock gained 3.6 per cent in early trade today. RCom, Hindalco and Sterlite were the other main gainers in the pack, up more than 3.2 per cent each.

However, Sun Pharma plunged nearly 7 per cent and was the biggest loser in the pack.

On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as traders were hesitant to commit more money to the market after a weeklong surge. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped, while the Nasdaq composite index rose.

A mix of earnings reports drove trading. Apple Inc. and Starbucks Inc. jumped on their results, but chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and big bank Wells Fargo & Co. slid.

The Dow fell 34.68, or 0.4 percent, to 8,881.26. The broader S&P 500 index slipped 0.51, or 0.1 percent, to 954.07, and the Nasdaq rose 10.18, or 0.5 percent, to 1,926.38, helped by Apple and Starbucks. It was the 11th straight gain for the Nasdaq.

In Asia, benchmark indices were trading higher today. Hong Kongs Hang Seng and Japans Nikkei were up over 1 per cent each. Chinas Shanghai Composite rose 0.7 per cent.