Sensex rises over 200 pts in early trade; Nifty tops 11,300

Mumbai, Aug.18 (PTI): Domestic equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 200 points in early trade on Tuesday tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Infosys amid sustained foreign fund inflow.

The BSE Sensex was trading 210.93 points or 0.55 per cent higher at 38,261.71; while NSE Nifty was up 65.30 points or 0.58 per cent at 11,312.40.

ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, M&M, Infosys, Titan, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and SBI were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the Sensex had settled 173.44 points or 0.46 per cent higher at 38,050.78, while the Nifty ended 68.70 points or 0.61 per cent up at 11,247.10.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 332.90 crore on a net basis on Monday.

According to traders, buying in index-heavyweights led benchmarks higher amid sustained foreign fund inflow.

Largely positive cues from global markets too supported domestic indices, they said.

Bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading on a positive note, while Tokyo and Seoul were in the red.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street ended with gains in overnight session.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.37 per cent lower at USD 45.20 per barrel.