Markets trade in green amid firm Asian equities, foreign fund inflows

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices climbed in initial trade on Monday tracking firm trend in other Asian markets and continuous foreign fund inflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 164.79 points to 59,997.76 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 52.55 points to 17,651.70.

Among the Sensex firms, Tata Motors jumped over 7 per cent. Titan, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, Power Grid, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Infosys were among the other major winners.

Asian Paints, Maruti, Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank were among the laggards.

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

The US markets ended in the positive territory on Thursday. Stock market in the US were closed on April 7 for Good Friday.

"It appears that the market is bracing for a rally. The major positive is that FIIs have turned buyers having bought equity for Rs 4,740 crore during the last 6 trading sessions," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The Sensex climbed 143.66 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 59,832.97 on Thursday. The Nifty gained 42.10 points or 0.24 per cent to finish at 17,599.15.

Equity markets were closed on April 7 on account of Good Friday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.19 per cent to USD 84.96 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought equities worth Rs 475.81 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.