Mumbai, Jul 9 (IANS): Firm Asian cues lifted the key Indian equity indices on Monday, with the BSE Sensex rising over 200 points.

According to market analysts, investor sentiments in the Asian markets were supported by a healthy US jobs data released on Friday.

In the domestic indices, they said, healthy buying was witnessed in the banking, auto and metal stocks.

At 12.17 p.m., the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded at 10,838.40 points -- higher by 65.75 points or 0.61 per cent -- from its previous close of 10,772.65 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensex on the BSE, which had opened at 35,835.10 points, traded at 35,884.18 points (12.20 p.m.) -- up by 226.32 points or 0.63 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 35,657.86 points.

Sensex has so far touched a high of 35,931.09 points and a low of 35,779.72 points during the intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,574 advances against 770 declines.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors whereas Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Coal India and HDFC were the losers.

On the NSE, Vedanta, Dr Reddy's Lab and Axis Bank were the highest gainers while TCS Ultratech Cement and HDFC lost the most.