Sensex gains 290 points to open at 72,140; Nifty trades in green above 21,740

Benchmark equity indices climbed in early trade on Friday, extending their previous day’s rally, amid fresh foreign fund inflows and buying in IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 308.91 points to 72,156.48 in early trade. The Nifty climbed 91 points to 21,749.60.

Among the Sensex firms, Wipro, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies were the major gainers.

Nestle India, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asian Paints were the laggards.

On Thursday, the BSE benchmark jumped 490.97 points or 0.69 per cent to settle at 71,847.57 and the Nifty climbed 141.25 points or 0.66 per cent to 21,658.60.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in the positive territory while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.39 per cent to USD 77.89 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,513.41 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.