At 9:42 am, the Sensex traded 99.33 points - or 0.26 per cent - higher at 38,830.15, while the Nifty was up 22.30 points - or 0.19 per cent - at 11,578.20.

Market breadth favoured gains, with 871 stocks trading higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), against 567 struggling with losses. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 932 stocks advanced while 605 declined.

Top percentage gainers on the 50-scrip index at the time were Zee Entertainment, Coal India, Yes Bank, HCL Tech and Britannia, trading between 1.18 per cent and 2.13 per cent higher.

Prominent laggards included Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Hindalco, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and JSW Steel, struggling with losses of between 0.67 per cent and 1.83 per cent.

Infosys, HDFC and HDFC Bank were the top contributors to the advances in Sensex, while TCS, Bajaj Finance and Tata Motors were the top drags.

TCS shares were in focus a day after the IT major reported a net profit of Rs 8,131 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2019, beating analysts' estimates and kicking off the earnings.

The government is due to release data on industrial production and consumer inflation on Friday. On the same day, Infosys will be releasing its earnings for the quarter ended June 30.

Equities in other Asian markets inched ahead with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advancing 0.2 per cent after three sessions of losses. South Korea shares climbed 0.6 per cent, but Japan's Nikkei benchmark dropped 0.15 per cent.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.08 per cent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq added 0.12 per cent and 0.54 per cent respectively.