The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex gained 77 points in the opening trade today on continued capital inflows by foreign funds, taking cues from global markets.
Expectations of positive Industrial output data for the month of January also supported the upside in stock prices.
The 30-share index, which gained over 115 points in the past two sessions, rose by 76.58 points, or 0.44 per cent to 17,244.54 points in opening trade with all the sectoral indices trading in positive zone with gains of up to 0.53 per cent.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also went up by 24.70 points, or 0.48 per cent to 5,158.10 points.
Stock brokers said that apart from firming trend on the global markets, expectations of strong industrial output data for the month of January also buoyed the trading sentiments, triggering buying by foreign funds.
Major gainers which supported the Sensex were Mahindra and Mahindra (2.13 per cent to Rs 1,148), Maruti Suzuki (1.22 per cent to Rs 1,484.10), Sterlite Industries (0.71 per cent to Rs 826.50), Tata Steel (0.42 per cent to Rs 610.90) and State Bank of India (0.50 per cent to Rs 2,055.55).
The US Dow Jones Industrial Aveage ended 0.42 per cent higher in the previous session, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.13 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei up by 0.41 per cent in the morning trade today.
