The frontline Indian equity benchmarks have sustained solid gains in the afternoon trades, with the BSE Sensex hovering around the 18,400 mark and the NSE Nifty has surpassed the 5,550 milestone. Both the main indices are up over 2% each. It clearly is a day for the Large-Cap stocks, with the broader indices under-performing. The overall market breadth is quite healthy with very few losers. All the sectoral indices on the two main exchanges are up and about while the INDIA VIX is down marginally.

At 2:49pm (IST), the BSE Sensex was trading at 18,463., up 442 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18,484 and a day's low of 18,284. It opened at 18,284.

The NSE Nifty was quoting at 5,573, up 117 points over the previous close. It earlier touched a day’s high of 5,581 and a day’s low of 5,526. It opened at 5,528.

RIL, Infosys, Wipro, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Tata Power, HDFC Bank, Coal India, Bajaj Auto, L&T,. Tata Motors, SBI, M&M,  Dr Reddys Lab, NTPC are among gainers in BSE Sensex and Nifty.

TCS, ITC and Sun Pharma are among losers in BSE Sensex and Nifty.

The BSE Small-Cap index and BSE Mid- Cap index was trading at 1%.

PSU,  Auto,  Power , Realty, Oil and Gas, Metal,  Teck and IT, Capital Goods,Bankex indices are the gainers.

 HC and FMCG indices are the losers.

The Realty index is the biggest gainer so far, up over ~4% while the Banking and Metals indices are up ~3.5% each. Auto, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas indices are up ~2% to 3%. PSU and Power indices are up ~1% apiece. Teck, Consumer Durables and IT indices are slightly higher. FMCG and Pharma indices have dipped in to the negative terrain.

The market sentiment has not been affected by a weaker-than-estimated WPI inflation report for August 2012. India's annual inflation climbed rather sharply in August from the previous month, denting expectations of monetary easing by the RBI on Sept. 17.

Inflation, as measured by the wholesale price index (WPI), stood at 7.55% last month versus 6.87% in July, the Union Commerce & Industry Minister said today.

The annual inflation rate was at 9.78% during the corresponding month of the previous year.

The rupee rose to its strongest level in two-and-a-half months after the Government raised diesel prices to lower its subsidy burden and the Federal Reserve announced new aggressive monetary stimulus.

The partially convertible rupee rose as high as 54.64 earlier in the session, its strongest since July 4. It had closed at 55.43/44 on Thursday.

The gains if sustained would be the rupee's biggest single-day percentage gain in two months.

Shares of state-run downstream and upstream oil companies such as IOC, BPCL, HPCL, Gail, ONGC and Oil India have gained after the Government announced a steep hike in diesel prices and slashed LPG subsidy while leaving prices of petrol and kerosene unchanged.

Cairn India is another noteworthy gainer amid high crude oil prices. Metal shares have rallied amid speculation that stimulus measures by the US, Europe and China will revive demand for the industrial commodities. Banking, Realty and Auto shares are also up on hope that the RBI will on Monday announce marginal reduction in policy rates.

IT shares have also gained on optimism that the launch of a QE3 by the US Federal Reserve and the stimulus announced by Europe and China recently will boost global economic growth and prompt companies around the globe to step up their spending on Information Technology.

PSU shares have advanced ahead of an important Cabinet meeting later in the day where the Government is likely to consider a few proposals for disinvestment.

Essar Oil has rallied after a favourable ruling from the Supreme Court ruling has cut the company's tax bill by US$327 million towards the outstanding sales tax payable to the Gujarat government.

Shares of aviation companies - Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet - have extended gains from the previous session amid news that the Cabinet will today take up the proposal to allow FDI into the civil aviation sector.

European stock indices jumped in opening trades, buoyed by the announcement of a fresh monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve in the previous session.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up by over 1%, with Banks and Resource stocks leading the charge.

Among the country-specific indices, Spain is a clear leader with a gain of over 2%, while the main indices in Germany, France and the UK are up by ~1.5% each.

Asian markets finished mostly higher after the US Federal Reserve unleashed a third round of asset purchases or QE3 in a bid to shore up growth in the world's largest economy.

A regional benchmark index was headed for the longest winning streak since January 2011.

The Fed policymakers said yesterday that it will buy US$40bn of mortgage-backed debt per month until the job market improves substantially as long as inflation remains contained

The central bank will continue its purchases of mortgage-backed securities and undertake other asset purchases if the outlook for the labor market doesn’t improve substantially, the FOMC said yesterday.

The US central bank also said that it was unlikely to raise interest rates from current lows until at least mid-2015, extending the time frame for such a move from late 2014.