Sensex, Nifty Trade Firm On Foreign Fund Inflows

Stock market benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Wednesday, extending their rally for the eighth day running, following strength in most of the Asian equity exchanges and continuous foreign fund inflows.

Also, buying in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and Tata Consultancy Services added to the positive trend in the equity market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 92.29 points to 60,250.01 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty gained 51.35 points to 17,773.65.

Among the Sensex firms, Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance and Tata Steel were the biggest winners in early trade.

IndusInd Bank, Nestle, Hindustan Unilever, Power Grid, NTPC and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the laggards.

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

The US markets had ended mostly lower on Tuesday.

"All eyes will be on CPI inflation and IIP numbers that will trickle in later today, as RBI recently in its policy announcement had refrained from hiking rates. Against the backdrop of recent slump in technology stocks, investors would keenly follow the TCS results to be announced post market hours," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

The Sensex rose 311.21 points or 0.52 per cent to finish at 60,157.72 on Tuesday. The Nifty gained 98.25 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 17,722.30.

"For equity markets, globally, today's March US inflation data is crucial since it will determine the Fed response in the May policy meeting. March CPI print in India, too, will be keenly watched," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed marginally by 0.02 per cent to $85.63 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) further bought equities worth Rs 342.84 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)