Sensex rallies over 258 points on global cues

Mumbai: Building on gains for the third straight session, the benchmark Sensex surged over 258 points and the NSE Nifty recaptured the 8,800-mark in early trade on Friday on sustained buying by participants and foreign fund inflows amid positive global cues.

The 30-share index, which had gained 59.35 points in the previous two sessions, was up 258.59 points or 0.91 percent at 28,671.48 with all sectoral indices led by auto and banking trading in green, rising by up to 1.64 percent.

The NSE Nifty went up by 73.65 or 0.84 percent to 8,816.20.

Brokers said pick-up in buying activity, tracking a firm trend on Asian bourses and overnight gains on the US markets on dimming expectations for an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate hike influenced sentiment here.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.39 percent in early trade on Friday.

Financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are closed today for public holidays.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.99 percent higher on Thursday.