MUMBAI: Hopes of budgetary sops and a strong rupee buoyed the Indian equities markets during the mid-afternoon trade session on Monday.

The key indices traded on a flat-to-positive note, as healthy buying was witnessed in the telecom, healthcare and Teck (technology, media and entertainment) stocks.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) rose by 15.35 points or 0.18 pct, to 8,656.60 points.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,866.80 points, traded at 27,924.26 points (at 1.45 p.m.) -- up 41.80 points or 0.15 pct from the previous close at 27,882.46 points.

The Sensex has touched a high of 27,947.37 points and a low of 27,813.32 points during the intra-day trade so far.

In contrast, the BSE market breadth was marginally tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,349 declines and 1,220 advances.

"The markets traded in the rangebound territory ahead of the Union Budget on February 1," Astha Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Hem Securities, told IANS.

"Markets were expeting weak numbers from the corporates following demonetisation. However, the numbers were better-than-expected. This might be the reason for the upward trend in the Indian rupee."

On Friday last week, inflow of foreign funds and positive Asian indices pushed the benchmark indices to their highest levels in around three months.

The NSE Nifty rose by 38.50 points or 0.45 pct, to close at 8,641.25 points, while the BSE Sensex was up 174.32 points or 0.63 pct.

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