The key benchmark indices were trading higher in afternoon trade today led by advances in realty and auto counters. The Sensex rose 103 points to 15,116 and the Nifty surged 36 points to 4,490.

Most Asian stock markets were lower as mixed economic data from the US reinforced fears that investors have overestimated the recovery's strength.

"Many of the global markets have gone up more than 50 per cent within the last five months, but investors have begun to realize that economic growth isn't as good as they thought," said Peter Lai, investment manager at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong. "So many of the smart funds have been taking profits recently."

Realty, auto and technology stocks witnessed some buying activity. The BSE auto index was up 1.5 per cent and the BSE realty index rose 1.3 per cent. The IT index on the BSE gained 1 per cent.

Among the Sensex stocks, Hero Honda was up 4 per cent and was the biggest gainer in the pack.  Bharti Airtel, BHEL and M&M rose over 1.8 per cent each.