Sensex surges over 240 pts in early trade, ICICI Bank top gainer; Nifty tops 15,770

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 240 points in early trade on Monday, tracking gains in index majors ICICI Bank, TCS and Reliance Industries amid a firm trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE index was trading 241.95 points or 0.46 percent higher at 52,628.14 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 81.65 points or 0.52 percent to 15,771.45. ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing nearly two percent, followed by Maruti Suzuki, SBI, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank and Tata Steel. TCS and Reliance Industries rose up to 0.56 percent in early trade. On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra and Hindustan Unilever were the laggards. In the previous session, Sensex ended 182.75 points or 0.35 percent lower at 52,386.19. The NSE Nifty dropped 38.10 points or 0.24 percent to close at 15,689.80. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,124.65 crore on Friday, as per provisional exchange data. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo were trading with significant gains in mid-session deals. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.19 percent to $75.41 per barrel.