Sensex rises over 60 points in early trade on positive macroeconomic data

The benchmark BSE Sensex recovered over 62 points to 26,730.15 in early trade on Wednesday on increased buying by funds and investors driven by encouraging GDP numbers and core infrastructure sectors growth.

Trading sentiment got a boost after macroeconomic indicators such as GDP numbers and core sector growth showed that the country's economy has gained momentum.

India's GDP grew 7.9% in the January-March quarter of 2015-16, taking the overall economic growth to a five-year high of 7.6% for the entire fiscal.

The production of eight core sectors growing by 8.5% in April on the back of pick-up in the output of refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity, too impacted trading sentiment, brokers said.

The 30-share index, which had lost 57.64 points in the previous session, gained 62.19 points, or 0.23%, to trade at 26,730.15.

Stocks of FMCG, oil&gas, healthcare, tech, IT, consumer durables and PSU led the gains.

The NSE Nifty was trading higher by 27.80 points, or 0.34%, at 8,187.90.

However at 1013 hours, BSE Sensex was trading at 26,808.30 points, up 140.34 points or 0.53% and NSE Nifty was trading at 8,202.75 points, up 42.65 points or  0.52%.

Shares of state-run oil marketing companies such as BPCL, HPCL and IOC were trading in positive zone with gains by up to 0.63% following a hike in petrol and diesel prices.

Asian cues were mixed with Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.27%, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.57% in early trade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.16%.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.48% down in Tuesday's trade.