Sensex up 78 pts in opening trade

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose 78 points in opening trade today on fresh buying by funds and retail investors in heavy-weight stocks led by Reliance Industries.

The Sensex, which had lost over 202 points in the last two sessions, gained 78.16 points at 17,061.30 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 23.40 points to 5,090.10 points.

Brokers said buying by foreign funds as well as retail investors in select heavy-weight stocks helped Sensex trade in the positive zone.

Reliance Industries was up by 1.5 per cent at Rs 1,070.

Among other gainers, Sterlite rose by 1.09 per cent to Rs 860.65, Hindalco by 1.54 per cent to Rs 144.75, Tata Steel by 1.83 per cent to Rs 566.50,Infosys Technologies by 0.15 per cent to Rs 2,393.50, Wipro by 0.15 per cent to Rs 638.50, Bharti Airtel by 1.19 per cent to Rs 320.15, Tata Motors by 0.43 per cent to Rs 707.05 and Maruti Suzuki 0.36 per cent to Rs 1,581.80.