Markets climb in early trade after two days of decline amid rally in US equities

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices began the trade on an optimistic note on Wednesday after two days of plunge, tracking a rally in the US markets, amid hopes of rates cut by the Fed in September.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 144.92 points to 79,100.95 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up 57.5 points to 24,196.50.

From the 30 Sensex firms, HCL Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, State Bank of India and NTPC were the biggest gainers.

UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo were trading higher while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.

The US markets ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

"The PPI (Producer Price Inflation) numbers from the US indicate softening of inflation, and a confirmation of this declining trend is likely from the CPI numbers coming today. The US market moved up yesterday in anticipation of this and a rate cut by the Fed in September," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,107.17 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,239.96 crore.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.61 per cent to USD 81.18 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark tumbled 692.89 points or 0.87 per cent to settle at 78,956.03 on Tuesday. The NSE Nifty slumped 208 points or 0.85 per cent to 24,139.