Key indices were moving in a range with positive bias on Friday taking cues from the global markets. Broader markets, meanwhile, continued to outperform the benchmarks.

US markets closed in positive territory and Asian markets too are up. Asian stocks=rose as commodity prices jumped amid optimism the US recession may ease after the economy shrank less than expected in the first quarter. Our 0D market has corrected 8 times in 11 trading sessions largely owing to a drop in expectations from the upcoming budget. We expect the market to open up and 0D continue to rally for the day, said Religare Securities report.

At 11 am, Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex was at 14433.26, up 87.64 points or 0.61 per cent. The index touched an intra-day high of 14526.17 and low of 14373.57.

National Stock Exchangess Nifty was at 4272.80, up 30.95 points or 0.73 per cent. The broader index touched an intra-day high of 4299.25 and low of 0D 4243.95.

Trend deciding level for the day is 4267/14395. If Nifty trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 4313-4384/14529-14712. However, if Nifty trades below 4267/14395 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 4196/14212, said Angel Broking note.

BSE Midcap Index was up 1.14 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.97 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Capital Goods Index gained 1.98=per cent, BSE Realty Index moved up 1.96 per cent and BSE Bankex gained 1.61 per cent. BSE Healthcare Index dipped 1.44 per cent weighed by losses in Sun Pharmaceuticals.

ICICI Bank (3.10%), Larsen & Toubro (2.79%), DLF (2.16%), ACC (1.99%) and Sterlite Industries (1.94%) were amongst the major Sensex gainers.

Losers included Sun Pharmaceuticals (-11.84%), Tata Steel (-3%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (-1.44%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-1.32%) and HDFC (-0.61%).

Shares of Sun Pharmaceuticals droped sharply amod reports that the US FDA authorities seized all medicines produced by its unit Caraco Pharmaceutical following repeated violations of manufacturing standards.

According to the report, US FDA seized 33 drugs from Michigan facility of Caraco, a subsidiary of Sun Pharma, which could impact Caraco's US sales by 6-7%.

At 11 am, the stock was trading 12.74 per cent lower at Rs 1133 on the BSE after dropping to a low of Rs 1070 in early trade.

Starting Friday, the benchmark Nifty index will be calculated using the free-float market capitalization methodology based on the public shareholding of the firms to calculate the weight of index stocks.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1323 advances and 780 declines.

Among overseas markets, US stocks gained momentum 0D overnight as investors were relieved after government data showed gross domestic product shrank last quarter by 5.5 percent, lesser than economists expectations of 5.7 per cent.

Snapping a four-day losing streak, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 172.54 points, or 2.08 percent, to close at 8,472.40. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19.32, or 2.1 percent, to 0D 920.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 37.20, or 2.1 per cent, to 1,829.54.

Asian markets were on the rise tracking strong cues from Wall Street. The Nikkei climbed 0.87 per cent, Strait Times moved 0.90 per cent higher, Hang Seng was up 1.16 per cent and Straits Times advanced 0.90 per cent.