Mumbai, Nov 26 (IANS): Firm Asian markets and a declining global crude oil prices aided the S&P BSE Sensex recover from initial losses as it traded 240 points higher during the afternoon session of trade on Monday.

The NSE'S Nifty also inched closer to the 10,600-mark over value buying after the markets closed on Thursday logging losses during the week. The markets were shut on Friday.

Buying was witnessed in the FMCG and consumer durables stocks. The index pivotals -- finance and banking -- were 0.26 per cent and 0.33 per cent higher from its previous close. Export oriented stocks like IT and healthcare traded lower.

Although the indices traded in the green, the overall market breadth was negative with 1,470 advances and 922 declines as mid-cap traded 0.29 per cent lower and the small-caps declined by 0.13 per cent.

At 1.55 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex traded 243.14 points higher at 35,224.16 from its previous close of 34,981.02. The benchmark index touched a high of 35,237.90 and a low of 34,896.07 while NSE's Nifty was trading 62.45 points higher at 10,589.20.

Crude oil prices traded at $59.74 per barrel while the domestic currency stood at Rs 70.59 per dollar from its previous close of 70.67.

The crude oil prices have guided the markets for the past few weeks after it touched $86-a-barrel mark in early October. The Brent crude oil slipped below $60, a decline of over 30 per cent in just a month following the US move to let 8 countries, including India and China, continue buying oil for six months from Iran despite its sanctions.

According to a India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), a change of even $1 per barrel will impact the country's import bill by Rs 61.6 billion.