Equity markets climb in early trade after three days of decline

Mumbai: Market benchmark indices bounced back in early trade on Thursday after falling in the past three days, amid buying in recently hit banking and IT counters.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 210.49 points to 59,778.29 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 56.35 points to 17,675.80.

Among the Sensex firms, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, ITC, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Wipro and NTPC were the biggest winners.

Nestle and Reliance Industries were the only laggards.

In Asian markets, Japan and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory, while Seoul and Shanghai quoted lower.

The US markets had ended mostly lower on Wednesday.

"Intra-day, local benchmarks may witness sideways movement as concerns over more rate hikes in key European economies and the US could dampen sentiment and trigger further rounds of corrections," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Falling for a third day, the BSE Sensex declined 159.21 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 59,567.80 on Wednesday. The Nifty dipped 41.40 points or 0.23 per cent to end at 17,618.75.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1 per cent to USD 82.29 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 13.17 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.