The Sensex opened with a gap-up, led by gains on the back of positive global cues. The trade may turn volatile as the session progresses as Finance Minister P Chidambaram will present the Union Budget 2013 in the Parliament and as traders will square off positions on settlement day of February series.

"We expect that the positive sentiments are seen ahead of the budget, as the finance minister has promised to keep the fiscal deficit in target range. We expect the budget to focus more on investor-friendly measures to get the dollar flows back to the nation. The announcement on key sectors like infrastructure and pension will be important for the market players," said Abhishek Goenka, Founder & CEO, India Forex Advisors.

"Any positive announcement on tax treaty or expenditure cut would be positive for the rupee. The FII's will also be keeping a keen eye on the announcements made on the budget day, any further easing of rules and regulation for them can again spur the flows in the local markets, which could make the rupee to gain," he added.

At 09:16 am, the 30-share index was at 19,286.43, up 134.02 points or 0.70 per cent. It touched a high of 19,322.28 and a low of 19,264.27 in trade today. The Nifty was at 5,836.45, up 39.55 points or 0.68 per cent. It touched a high of 5,849.90 and a low of 5,833.80 in trade today.

The BSE Midcap Index and the BSE Smallcap Index were up 0.63 per cent each.

All the sectoral indices were in the green. The BSE Capital Goods Index was up 1.25 per cent, the BSE Realty Index was 1.08 per cent higher, the BSE Auto Index moved 0.98 per cent higher and the BSE Oil & Gas Index gained 0.80 per cent.

Tata MotorsBSE 1.50 % (1.54 per cent), Coal IndiaBSE 2.71 % (1.48 per cent), ONGCBSE 1.33 % (1.43 per cent), L&T (1.39 per cent) and Tata PowerBSE 0.41 % (1.08 per cent) were among the top Sensex gainers. There were no market losers.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE with 641 gainers against 181 losers.

The foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 106.36 crore while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 24.7 crore on Wednesday as per the provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, the US stocks continued to move higher as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke remained positive on Fed's stimulus plans.

The Asian markets also extended gains on the back of positive cues from the Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rallied 1.86 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 1.09 per cent higher, South Korea's Kospi was up 0.81 per cent higher and China's Shanghai Composite moved up 0.20 per cent.