Markets climb in early trade on continuous foreign fund inflow

Benchmark indices extended their winning run on Tuesday morning helped by continuous buying from foreign institutional investors and on signs that recession fears in the US are easing.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 173.65 points to 61,937.90 in early trade. The NSE Nifty advanced 54.35 points to 18,318.75.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and HDFC were the major gainers.

State Bank of India, HCL Technologies, ITC and Reliance Industries were the major laggards.

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

The US markets had ended on a mixed note on Monday.

"The biggest positive catalyst is that the recession fears in the US are seen easing. Also, helping sentiments will be the fact that FIIs bought shares worth Rs 2,124 crore while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) too bought shares worth Rs 245 crore," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Monday as they bought equities worth Rs 2,123.76 crore, according to exchange data.

"There are three prominent factors which are driving the ongoing rally in the market: One, better-than-expected strength of the US economy and the increasing confidence that the US will succeed in avoiding a bad recession.

"Two, strong buying by FIIs who have been continuous buyers during the last eight trading days. Three, fundamental support to the rally from macro indicators such as robust GST collections, improving PMI, high fuel consumption and good credit growth," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.42 per cent to $76.68 per barrel.

The BSE benchmark had rallied 709.96 points or 1.16 per cent to settle at 61,764.25 on Monday. The Nifty had climbed 195.40 points or 1.08 per cent to end at 18,264.40.