Foreign fund inflow drive Sensex, Nifty to start on positive note

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 73 points in early trade Tuesday, extending gains for the seventh session, driven by sustained foreign fund inflows. Besides, covering-up of short positions ahead of March series expiry in the derivatives segment scheduled for Wednesday as markets will remain closed on Thursday, also supported the rising trend, brokers said.

The 30-share index was trading 73.35 points, or 0.19 per cent, higher to 38,168.42. The gauge had gained over 1,420 points in the previous six sessions.

Sectoral indices, led by oil and gas, healthcare, realty, PSU, consumer durables and IT gained up to 0.78 per cent.

The NSE Nifty also advanced by 14.40 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 11,476.60.

Major gainers were Sun Pharma, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, SBI, ITC, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, HDFC, Coal India, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank and Asian Paints, rising up to 3.05 per cent.

Bucking the trend, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, M&M, Vedanta and Tata Steel were down up to 2.42 per cent.

Brokers said sustained foreign fund inflows, continued buying by retail investors and a mixed global cues ahead of the US Federal policy meet, influenced the market here.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,823 crore, while DIIs offloaded equities to the tune of Rs 1,269 crore Monday, provisional data showed.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was trading lower by 0.26 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.16 per cent and Shanghai Composite index was down 0.22 per cent in their early deals.

On Wall Street, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.25 per cent higher in Monday's session.