Mumbai, May 16 : Indian equity benchmarks surged on Thursday, following positive Asian peers and US CPI data, which rose slightly less than expected in April.

At 9:50 a.m., Sensex was up 155 points or 0.21 per cent, at 73,159 points, and Nifty was up 47 points or 0.21 per cent, at 22,243 points.

Smallcap and midcap stocks are more bullish than large-cap stocks. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was up 276 points or 0.54 per cent at 50,984 points and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 16,559 points, up 102 points or 0.62 per cent.

The Indian volatility index (India VIX) was slightly down at 20.21 points.

Out of 30 shares of Sensex, 20 shares opened in the green and 10 shares were in the red.

Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech, and Bharti Airtel are the top five gainers and Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid, Tata Motors, NTPC and IndusInd Bank are the top five losers.

The markets of Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, and Hong Kong are bullish. At the same time, due to the softening of CPI, American markets closed with gains in Wednesday's session.

Crude oil is up about half a per cent. Brent crude is at $83 per barrel and WTI crude is at $79 per barrel.

According to the experts, "The rally on Wall Street came following the release of a Labour Department report showing consumer prices in the US rose by slightly less than expected in April."

"The US consumer prices increased less than expected in April, suggesting that inflation resumed its downward trend at the start of the second quarter, boosting financial market expectations for a September interest rate cut."

/IANS