Mumbai: A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was trading 75 points up in the late afternoon trade as European stocks opened in green. Buying was seen in FMCG, consumer durables and oil and gas stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16907.74 points, was ruling at 16952.59 points, 0.45 percent or 75.24 points up from its previous day's close at 16877.35 points.

The BSE FMCG index was up 91.47 points, followed by the consumer durables index, up 59.48 points, and oil and gas index, up 63.14 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was ruling 0.47 percent up at 5,142.20 points.

Hindustan Unilever was the biggest Sensex gainer and was trading up 7.36 percent at 475.45.

The other major Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki, up 3.25 percent at 1,115; Sterlite Inds, up 2.91 percent at 102.45; ONGC, up 1.67 percent at 285.75 and Bharti Airtel, up 0.91 percent at 306.60.

The main losers were Wipro, down 2.81 percent at 346.45; Sun Pharma, down 1.30 percent at 608.75; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 0.88 percent at 686.6; BHEL, down 0.82 percent at 218; Hero MotoCorp, down 0.76 percent at 2,037.65.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.24 percent while Shanghai's composite index was 0.24 percent higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.79 percent.

The European markets opened in green. France's CAC was up 0.14 percent while Germany's DAX was trading 0.02 percent higher. Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.12 percent.