The Sensex briefly touched 19,500 level, from where it eased a little. The key BSE index has gained little over 7 per cent from a month earlier and 18.18 per cent over a year.

IT stocks continued to lead the way, followed by oil & gas, telecom & entertainment, realty and auto.

At 9:36 am, Nifty was at 5841.50, up 49.95 points or 0.79 per cent. The National Stock Exchange benchmark opened the day at 5795.25 against Tuesdays close of 5795.55. The 50-share index touched a high of 5847.70 versus a low of 5792.20.

Today, we expect the Indian markets to open flat and trade in a range with a negative bias. Important resistance on Nifty is at 5,850 while the next support levels are at 5,800-5,750, said HDFC Securities in its morning note.

Sensex was at 19,471.23, up 124.27 points or 0.64 per cent. The Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index opened at 19,343.74 versus the previous close of 19,346.96. The 30-share index recorded a high of 19,502.55 against a low of 19,340.99.

Among the indices, oil & gas could do well, while banking stocks could underperform, the securities firm added.

Top Sensex gainers were Infosys Technologies (1.83%), Wipro (1.82%), ONGC (1.62%), Reliance Industries (1.29%), Reliance Infra (1.16%), Tata Steel (1.05%), Tata Consultancy Services (1.05%), Tata Motors (1.02%), Mahindra & Mahindra (0.98%), ITC (0.85%), Maruti Suzuki (0.84%), Cipla (0.82%).

The only losers among the 30 Sensex constituents were Tata Power (-0.65%), State Bank of India (-0.38%), Bharti Airtel (-0.36%) and Larsen & Toubro (-0.13%).