Markets trade firm amid buying in blue-chip stocks, rally in Asian equities; Sensex at 79,102

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Monday amid buying in blue-chip stocks like Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel along with a rally in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 69.63 points to 79,102.36 in early trade. The Nifty went up by 37.85 points to 24,048.45.

Among the Sensex pack, Maruti, JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and Nestle were the biggest gainers.

NTPC, Power Grid, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai were quoting higher.

US markets ended lower on Friday.

"Despite high valuations the market is likely to remain resilient. The healthy trend in the recent rally, which has pushed Nifty by 6.5 per cent in June, is that it is being led by fundamentally strong largecaps like RIL, leading private sector banks and Bharti Airtel," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.52 per cent to USD 85.44 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 23.09 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark declined 210.45 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 79,032.73 on Friday. During the day, it jumped 428.4 points or 0.54 per cent to hit a fresh record peak of 79,671.58.

The Nifty went lower by 33.90 points or 0.14 per cent to 24,010.60. During the day, it climbed 129.5 points or 0.53 per cent to hit a new lifetime high of 24,174.