Sensex rallies 353 points in early trade

Mumbai: Benchmark indices on Thursday made a firm start as the Sensex rallied 353 points in early trade on buying in HDFC twins and ICICI Bank amid positive trends in global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 353.1 points to 54,102.36 points. The broader NSE Nifty gained 104.1 points to 16,129.90 points.

From the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and TCS were among the prominent gainers in early deals.

In contrast, Asian Paints, Maruti, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever Limited and M&M were among the lagards.

The Sensex tanked 303.35 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 53,749.26 points on Wednesday. The Nifty declined 99.35 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 16,025.80 points.

Asian markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo were trading in the green while Hong Kong quoted marginally lower.

Stock markets in the US had ended higher on Wednesday.

"There are indications of market stabilising and consolidating around current levels. In the mother market, US, there is a strong view that the fears of recession are overdone.

"For the Indian economy, elevated crude prices will continue to be a major headwind and sustained FPI selling, which can be expected to continue, will be a major hurdle for the market to rally," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

International oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.35 per cent to USD 114.47 per barrel.

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 1,803.06 crore on Wednesday, as per stock exchange data.