Sensex up 116 points in early morning trade

Mumbai: Building on gains for the fifth straight session, the benchmark Sensex gained over 116 points to 26,769.32 in early trade today on sustained buying by participants, particularly domestic institutional investors.

Indian economy accelerating to 7.3 per cent in the September quarter and positive Asian indices propped the benchmark Sensex, brokers said. The 30-share index, which had gained 792.64 points in the previous four sessions, was up 116.51 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 26,769.32, led by oil & gas, realty, consumer durables, PSU, banking and capital goods, rising by up to 0.54 per cent.

The NSE Nifty was quoting higher by 20.50 points or 0.25 per cent, at 8,245. Sentiments got a boost after India stayed put as the fastest growing major economy with GDP growth at 7.3 per cent in the September quarter of the current fiscal, pushed mainly by farm output, brokers said.

A firming trend at other Asian markets following an OPEC deal to cut oil output for the first time in eight years, sent crude prices soaring almost 10 per cent, they said. Globally, US oil prices climbed USD 4.21 to USD 49.44 a barrel in yesterday's trade.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.82 per cent while Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.65 per cent in early trade. Japan's Nikkei surged 2.26 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US ended 0.01 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.