Sensex, Nifty gain in early trade; telecom, power stocks drive gains

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Market gauges Sensex and Nifty started on a positive note on Wednesday as participants showed keen interest in telecom, power and energy shares.

The BSE Sensex was trading higher by 187.89 points or 0.32 per cent at 58,852.22 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty rose 59.85 points or 0.34 per cent to 17,563.20.

On the Sensex chart, Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid, NTPC, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries were major gainers, rising as much as 2.04 per cent. On the other hand, Bajaj FinServ, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, Asian Paints and Infosys were among the major laggards.

Analysts said the telecom sector is in focus as the sector majors initiated rate hikes which will enhance profitability.

In the previous session, the BSE Sensex settled 198.44 points or 0.34 per cent higher at 58,664.33 and the NSE Nifty rose 86.80 points or 0.50 per cent to 17,503.35.

Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets were trading with moderate to deep losses tracking a rise in US bond yields and volatility in global crude oil prices in the wake of price-cooling efforts by the US and other countries. Offloading of shares foreign institutional investors continued on Tuesday as well, as they sold shares worth Rs 4,477.06 crore on a net basis.

Brent crude futures, global crude oil benchmark, rose 0.15 per cent to trade at USD 82.30 per barrel.