Sensex, Nifty rally in early trade on foreign fund inflows, firm trends in US markets

Mumbai, Mar 25 (PTI) Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty continued their winning run on Tuesday early trade as investors' sentiment remained firm amid foreign fund inflows and a sharp rally in the US markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 418.54 points to 78,402.92 in early trade. The NSE Nifty climbed 107.85 points to 23,766.20.

From the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti were the biggest gainers.

IndusInd Bank, Zomato, Reliance Industries and Tata Steel were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,055.76 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in the positive territory while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.

US markets ended significantly higher on Monday.

"The 5.6 per cent rally in the Nifty from the recent lows has been driven by a combination of factors like FIIs turning buyers (Rs 13,765 crore in the last three days), the consequent short-covering and improving macros of the Indian economy. The surge in mid and smallcaps has brought the retail investors aggressively back into the market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude went up 0.03 per cent to USD 73.02 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark gauge jumped 1,078.87 points or 1.40 per cent to settle at over six-week high of 77,984.38 on Monday. The Nifty surged by 307.95 points or 1.32 per cent to 23,658.35. PTI SUM DR

Source: PTI