Sensex surges over 300 pts in early trade; Nifty tests 11,150

Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 300 points in early trade on Monday, tracking gains in index majors ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries amid positive trend in global markets.

The 30-share index was trading 326.57 points or 0.87 per cent higher at 37,715.23, and the NSE Nifty jumped 96.05 points or 0.87 per cent to 11,146.30.

Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3 per cent, followed by ONGC, NTPC, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, Infosys, TCS, Bharti Airtel and HUL were the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex closed 835.06 points or 2.28 per cent higher at 37,388.66, while Nifty rose 244.70 points or 2.26 per cent to finish at 11,050.25.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 2,080.21 crore on a net basis on Friday.

According to traders, domestic equities opened on a positive note following positive trend in most Asian benchmarks.

Bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading with gains in mid-day deals, while Shanghai was in the red.

According to Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking, market participants will be closely eyeing the outcome of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review meet scheduled on October 1.

Also, they would be eyeing the auto sales number which starts pouring in the first week of every month, he said, adding that COVID-19 related updates and performance of world indices will also be in focus.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.66 per cent lower at USD 42.13 per barrel.