Indian equity markets climb in early trade

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices gained in early trade on Monday after falling in the previous two trading sessions, amid buying in index heavyweights ITC, ICICI Bank and Infosys.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 91.03 points to 63,070.40 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty advanced 39.30 points to 18,704.80 points.

From the Sensex pack, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Titan, Nestle, ICICI Bank and Infosys were the biggest gainers.

Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and NTPC were among the laggards.

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

The US markets ended in the negative territory on Friday.

“Intra-day, the market may witness a choppy ride as the recent interest rate hike by the BoE and the US Fed hinting at two more rate hikes this year coupled with mounting Chinese growth fears point towards a challenging environment for the global economic recovery path,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.05 per cent to USD 73.89 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 344.81 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

On Friday, Sensex fell 259.52 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 62,979.37 points while Nifty declined 105.75 points or 0.56 per cent to end at 18,665.50 points.