Sensex rallies over 500 points in early trade

Mumbai: The BSE benchmark Sensex rallied over 500 points in early trade on Monday driven by gains in index-heavyweights HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank amid persistent foreign fund inflow and positive trend in global equities.

The BSE Sensex was trading 520.67 points or 1.32 per cent higher at 39,987.98; while the NSE Nifty was up 141.05 points or 1.21 per cent at 11,788.65.

IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging around 4 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finserv.

Shares of Reliance Industries jumped over 2 per cent after the company announced acquisition of Future Group for Rs 24,713 crore to bolster its fast-growing retail



business.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Bajaj Auto were the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 353.84 points or 0.90 per cent higher at 39,467.31, while Nifty surged 88.35 points or 0.76 per cent to close at 11,647.60.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,004.11 crore on a net basis on Friday.

According to traders, stock-specific action, positive cues from Asian bourses and sustained foreign fund inflow lifted domestic benchmarks in early trade.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo were trading with significant gains