Mumbai, May 18 (IANS): A steady decline in new Covid cases along with accelerated vaccination drive powered the rise of India's benchmark stock indices during the mid-afternoon trade session on Tuesday.

Accordingly, both key indices started on a positive note with a gap up opening and maintained their gains with the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange breaching the over 15,100 points-mark and the S& BSE Sensex reclaiming the 50,000-points threshold.

Globally, robust trends were witnessed across Asian stock markets.

Sector-wise, except marginal losses in the FMCG space all other sectors traded in the positive territory.

Around 2.00 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex traded at 50,266.92, higher by 686.19 points, or 1.38 per cent, from its previous close.

Similarly, the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange traded at 15,110.95, up 187.80 points, or 1.26 per cent, from its previous close.

"Indian market started on a strong note and opened gap up above 15,050 marks and touched 15,134 zones. It has been moving in the positive territory but some consolidation can be seen at current junctures," said Jay Purohit, Technical & Derivatives Analyst, MOFSL.

"India VIX traded below 19 zones which provides support to the bulls. Market breadth continues to strongly be in favour of the advancing counters."

According to Gaurav Garg, Head of Research at CapitalVia: "Another day of lower daily Covid-19 cases boosted investor confidence. The US market ended lower after the signs of increasing inflation in the economy kept the investors worried about the tightening monetary policy."

"Asian markets also carried the momentum in the market and were mostly trading in green."