Sensex gains 57 pts in early trade despite rising inflation

Mumbai : The benchmark BSE Sensex gained over 57 points in early trade today on buying by domestic institutional investors even as retail inflation rose to a five-month high. Positive trends at other Asian markets also influenced trading sentiments here.

The 30-share barometer, which had gained 496.69 points in the previous four straight sessions, was trading higher by 57.08 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 32,215.74, with power, consumer durables, oil & gas, IT and PSU stocks leading the gains.

The NSE Nifty was up by 8.25 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 10,101.30 points. Prominent gainers were Reliance Industries, TCS, Dr Reddy’s, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, M&M, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, ICICI Bank, SBI, Bajaj Auto,ONGC and Maruti Suzuki, rising by up to 2.21 per cent.

Brokers said sentiment remained upbeat despite retail inflation rising in August to a five-month high of 3.36 per cent. Industrial production grew by 1.2 per cent in July against 4.5 per cent a year ago on account of manufacturing poor show, according to official data.

Brokers said Asian markets were firm after Wall Street stocks jumped to fresh records yesterday on easing geopolitical worries and US hurricanes. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 12.03 points, Shanghai’s Composite index rose 0.03 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.47 per cent in their early trade.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.28 per cent higher yesterday.