Sensex soars 128 points in early trade on firm global cues

Unabated buying by domestic institutional investors fuelled the uptrend, brokers said.

The 30-share Sensex, which gained 403.97 points in the previous three sessions, added 128.08 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 35,447.43.

All sectoral indices of BSE led by auto, IT, teck, capital goods and banking were in the positive zone, rising by up to 0.59 per cent.

The NSE Nifty too jumped 39.65 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 10,781.35.

Prominent gainers that supported the upward trend included ICICI Bank, M&M, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, RIL, Kotak Bank, HUL, Axis Bank, Coal India, L&T, TCS, HDFC Bank and Infosys, gaining up to 1.16 per cent.

Investors were busy expanding their positions amid expectations of encouraging earnings from more companies, they added.

A firming trend in rest of Asia following overnight positive leads from the Wall Street too influenced sentiments here.

Globally, oil prices traded higher as investors digested the impact of renewed US sanctions on Iran.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 664.92 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 704.03 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

Japan's Nikkei quoted 0.17 per cent higher while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.83 per cent in early deals. China's Shanghai Composite Index too rose 0.15 per cent.

The US market ended 0.75 per cent higher yesterday.