Mumbai, February 26 The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rose in early trading on Thursday, driven by buying in IT stocks and fresh inflows of foreign funds.
A rally in the US markets also helped the benchmark indices build gains during the initial trading session.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 303 points to 82,579.16 in early trading. The 50-share NSE Nifty rose by 85.1 points to 25,567.60.
Among the gainers from the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services, and Maruti were among the top performers.
InterGlobe Aviation, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,991.64 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also bought stocks worth Rs 5,118.57 crore.
"The strong buying by both FPIs (Rs 2,991 crore) and DIIs (Rs 5,118 crore) in the previous session is likely to provide further comfort to investors. Domestic fundamentals remain stable, and the ongoing sectoral rotation is helping the indices absorb periodic profit-booking at higher levels," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 were trading in positive territory, while Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index quoted lower.
The US market ended higher on Wednesday.
Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 0.25 per cent to USD 71.03 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the Sensex ended 50.15 points, or 0.06 per cent, higher at 82,276.07. The Nifty went up by 57.85 points or 0.23 per cent to settle at 25,482.50.
