Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS): A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), was trading 182 points or 0.62 percent up as capital goods stocks surged in Wednesday's pre-afternoon trade session.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made healthy gains. It was trading 42.65 points or 0.48 percent up at 8,852 points.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 29,136.07 points, was trading at 29,317.47 points (11.45 a.m.) in the pre-afternoon session, up 181.59 points or 0.62 percent from the previous day's close at 29,135.88 points.

The Sensex had touched a high of 29,336.08 points and a low of 29,126.91 points in the trade so far.

Healthy buying was observed in capital goods, automobile, consumer durables, healthcare and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors. However, metal, information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) scrip came under selling pressure.

The S&P BSE capital goods index surged by 288.50 points, automobile index gained 137.32 points, consumer durables index rose 131.44 points, healthcare index moved up 107.57 points and FMCG index was up 87.30 points.

However, metal index declined by 44.83 points, IT index fell 23.09 points and TECK index slipped 21.97 points.