Mumbai, March 27
Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Monday, mainly on account of buying in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank as well as positive sentiments in the US market.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 137.55 points to 57,664.65 points in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 46.05 points to 16,991.10 points.
Among the Sensex firms, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra and HDFC Bank were the biggest gainers.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, AXIS Bank and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were in the red while Japan was in the green.
The US markets ended higher on Friday.
Foreign Portfolio Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,720.44 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
