Sensex surges 174 points in early trade today

The BSE Sensex recovered over 174 points in opening trade today on fresh buying by investors after Hndustan Lever reported better-than-expected earnings.

The 30-share index, which had retreated from record by plunging 363.79 points in the previous session, rebounded 174.18 points or 0.54 per cent to 31,885.17 with stocks of FMCG, healthcare, bank, IT, PSU and oil&gas rising by up to 1.13 per cent.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty was trading 43.45 points or 0.44 per cent higher at 9,870.60.

Buying activity emerged after FMCG major Hindustan Unilever yesterday posted a 9.28 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 1,283 crore for the first quarter ended June



30.

Shares of Hindustan Unilever climbed 3.18 per cent to Rs 1,195.105 in early trade.Other gainers that supported the recovery were ITC Ltd, Lupin, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, Cipla, TCS, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Bank, Tata Steel, SBI, Reliance Industries and Wipro.

Traders said besides encouraging earnings posted by some bluechip companies, a firming trend at other Asian markets, as investors tracked another record close on Wall Street, influenced trading sentiments here.

In Asian region, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.11 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.32 per cent in early trade.

Shanghai Composite too gained 0.71 per cent.