Indian Markets Rise on SBI, Reliance Buying - Sensex, Nifty Up

Mumbai, Feb 7 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Wednesday amid buying in shares of State Bank of India and Reliance Industries along with firm trends in the US markets.

Fresh foreign fund inflows also added to the positive momentum in equities.

Extending its previous day's rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 373.12 points to 72,559.21 in early trade. The Nifty climbed 123.9 points to 22,053.30.

Among the Sensex firms, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries were the major gainers.

HCL Technologies, Infosys, Power Grid, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Shanghai were trading in the positive territory while Tokyo and Hong Kong were quoted in the negative zone.

The US markets ended with gains on Tuesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 92.52 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark climbed 454.67 points or 0.63 per cent to settle at 72,186.09 on Tuesday. The Nifty went up by 157.70 points or 0.72 per cent to 21,929.40.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.20 per cent to USD 78.75 a barrel.