Mumbai, Dec 23 (IANS): A day after it rallied by 330 points, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets Tuesday made healthy gains during the pre-afternoon trade session.

Healthy buying was observed in bank, automobile and capital goods stocks, while selling pressure took place in metal, oil and gas and consumer durables sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,733.12 points, was trading at 27,815.83 points (at 11.18 a.m.), up 114.04 points or 0.41 percent from its previous day's close at 27,701.79 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,851.10 points and a low of 27,701.13 points in the trade so far.

The S&P BSE Bank index gained 157.27 points, automobile index moved up 97.17 points, and capital goods index rose 73.18 points.

However, metal index inched lower by 99.21 points, oil and gas index lost 46.47 points and consumer durables index fell 13.37 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading in the positive territory. It was up 33.95 points or 0.41 percent at 8,357.95 points.