Equity benchmarks began the trade on a positive note on Wednesday amid buying in banking counters and a firm trend in global markets.

Continuing its previous day rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 361.94 points to 61,780.90 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty gained 81.2 points to 18,325.40.

From the Sensex pack, State Bank of India, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dr Reddy's, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti, HDFC and HDFC Bank were among the major winners.

ITC, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever and Power Grid were among the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul and Hong Kong were trading higher, while Shanghai quoted lower.

Wall Street had ended higher on Tuesday.

The BSE benchmark climbed 274.12 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 61,418.96 on Tuesday. The Nifty gained 84.25 points or 0.46 per cent to end at 18,244.20.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.03 per cent lower at USD 88.32 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 697.83 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.