New Delhi, Aug 24 - Indian equities opened on a strong note Monday and moved up further on strong global cues to extend the gains for the third straight trading day.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 15,362.93 points, as opposed to Friday's close at 15,240.83, and was ruling at 15,531.76 points, an hour into trade - a gain of 290.93 points, or 1.91 percent.

Stocks of realty, metals and consumer durables industries were the current flavours. Among the individual stocks of the30-share Sensex, Jaiprakash was up 3.59 percent, Sterlier was up 3.29 percent and Hindalco was up 2.88 percent.

In fact, all the 30 shares that go into the Sensex basket were in the green.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P CNX Nifty, a basket of 50 shares, was ruling at 4,613.40 points, against Friday's close at 4,528.80 points, with a gain of 1.87 percent, data with the bouse showed.