Equity markets climb in early trade after three days of decline

After falling for three days, market benchmark indices recovered in early trade on Thursday, thanks to 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 move sideways as concerns about further rate hikes in key European economies and the US dampen sentiment and trigger further rounds of corrections,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

The BSE Sensex fell for the third day in a row, falling 159.21 points, or 0.27 percent, to 59,567.80 on Wednesday. The Nifty fell 41.40 points, or 0.23 percent, to 17,618.75.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1% to USD 82.29 per barrel.