Sensex builds on gains, rises 131 pts on earnings, Asian cues

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose by about 131 points in early trade on Friday, extending gains for the third session on continued foreign fund inflows amid encouraging quarterly results. Besides, a firm trend at other Asian bourses influenced the sentiments here.

The 30-share index rose 130.58 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 35,390.87. Sectoral indices led by infrastructure, FMCG, healthcare, realty and banking were trading higher by up to 0.65 per cent.

The gauge had gained 489.24 points in the previous two sessions and yesterday closed at new peak of 35,260.29 after scaling an intra-day all-time high of 35,507.36.

The NSE Nifty too edged higher by 25.25 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 10,842.25. Yesterday, it had closed at record high of 10,817 and touched an intra-day high of 10,887.50.

Private sector lender Yes Bank emerged as top gainer in the Sensex kitty by rising 2.85 per cent after it reported 22 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 1,076.87 crore during the third quarter ended December 2017.

Reliance Industries was trading higher by 1.15 per cent ahead of earnings to be announced later in the day.

FIIs bought shares a worth Rs 1,894.99 crore, while domestic institutional investors sold equities to the tune of Rs 657.46 crore yesterday, according to provisional data.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was trading higher by 0.31 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.07 per cent in their early deals. The Shanghai Composite index was up by 0.35 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.37 per cent lower in yesterday's trade.