Sensex gains over 217 points in early trade, Nifty crosses 8,900 mark

The BSE Sensex staged a smart recovery by about 217 points to top the 29,000-mark in early trade today as fresh buying by investors led to widespread gains amid a mixed trend in other Asian markets. The broader NSE Nifty too followed suit, going past the 8,900-mark.

The 30-share index, which had lost 152.04 points in the previous two sessions, recovered sharply by 216.60 points, or 0.75%, to trade at 29,049.05. Brokers said that besides buying by retail investors, pumping of funds into the market by domestic institutional investors too contributed to the recovery. Stocks of auto, banking, PSU, oil & gas, power, capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, realty and metal led the gains. RIL shares climbed 2.90% to Rs 1,295 on sustained buying after the company announced that 15 promoter groups will transfer 118.99 crore shares to eight other promoter group entities at Rs 1,100.78 per share.

The NSE Nifty was trading higher by 37.95 points, or 0.42%, at 8,935.50. Bucking the trend, shares of IT and technology companies were trading lower on sustained selling. Asian cues were weak with Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.38%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.19% in early trade.

However, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.51% as the yen jumped in response to North Korea firing four ballistic missiles, three of which landed in Japanese waters. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.01% higher in Friday's trade.