Sensex jumps over 300 pts in early trade; Nifty near 18,200

Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 300 points in early trade on Monday led by gains in index majors HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank amid foreign fund inflow and a largely positive trend in global markets.

Mumbai:Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 300 points in early trade on Monday led by gains in index majors HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank amid foreign fund inflow and a largely positive trend in global markets.

The 30-share index was trading 315.89 points or 0.52 per cent higher at 61,002.58 in initial deals. Similarly, the Nifty rose 90.30 points or 0.50 per cent to 18,193.05. Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 1 per cent, followed by ITC, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank, M&M, Asian Paints and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, HDFC and Tata Steel were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 767 points or 1.28 per cent higher at 60,686.69. Similarly, the Nifty rose 229.15 points or 1.28 per cent to 18,102.75. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market, as they purchased shares worth Rs 511.10 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.

"Partly justifying the market rally, corporate earnings have grown by 46 per cent year-on-year in Q2. The surge in earnings has been led by financials, metals and mining and oil & gas. "But, even discounting this impressive performance by India Inc, the market is overvalued and, therefore, corrections are due," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Hong Kong were trading with losses in mid-session deals, while Tokyo and Seoul were positive. Stock exchanges in the US ended higher in Friday's session. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.89 per cent to USD 81.44 per barrel.

PTI