Stock markets advanced in early trade on Wednesday amid gains in Asian equity exchanges and buying in IT counters.

The BSE Sensex advanced 278.77 points to 59,240.89 after a positive beginning. The NSE Nifty climbed 83.4 points to 17,387.35.

From the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Maruti Suzuki, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Tata Motors and Bajaj Finance were the major gainers.

Power Grid, HDFC Bank, Nestle and Hindustan Unilever were the laggards from the pack.

In Asian markets, Japan, China and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory.

The US markets had ended lower on Tuesday.

"Markets are likely to extend caution in early trade on Wednesday as the bearish overseas cues would keep local investors guarded and may prompt selling in case the sentiment worsens later in the day. Amid a volley of headwinds, markets are likely to stay volatile with a negative bias, although the market is in oversold territory after eight straight sessions of losses.

"To make matters worse, FIIs continued to exit Indian markets, as they sold local shares to the tune of Rs 4,559 crore on Tuesday," Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 4,559.21 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark had declined 326.23 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at a four-month low of 58,962.12 on Tuesday. The Nifty dipped 88.75 points or 0.51 per cent to end at more than four-month low of 17,303.95.

International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.75 per cent to USD 83.89 per barrel.

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