Sensex climbs 72 points on Asian cues in early trade

Building on gains for the fourth straight session, the benchmark Sensex rallied over 72 points to 28,671.06 and the NSE Nifty again went past the 8,800-mark in early trade today on sustained buying by participants tracking positive Asian indices.

The 30-share index, which had gained 245.49 points in the previous three sessions, was up 72.03 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 28,671.06, led by oil & gas, PSU, banking, consumer durables, realty, healthcare and FMCG, rising by up to 0.66 per cent.

The NSE



Nifty was quoting higher by 30.10 points or 0.34 per cent, at 8,809.95.

Brokers said a better trend on other Asian bourses ahead of central bank meetings in the US and Japan this week, influenced trading sentiments here.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.83 per cent while Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.47 per cent in early trade. Japanese financial markets are closed today due to national holiday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US ended 0.49 per cent lower in Friday's trade.