Equity market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty climbed in early trade on Thursday driven by buying in IT stocks amid a firm trend in the global peers after US CPI inflation came on expected lines fuelling bets of a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 83.73 points to 81,609.87 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up 12 points to 24,604.45.
Among the 30-share Sensex blue-chip pack, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies and ICICI Bank were the biggest gainers.
Tata Motors, Titan, Larsen & Toubro and Asian Paints were among the laggards.
"Positive cues come from the US, where CPI inflation aligned with expectations, fuelled bets of a 25 bps rate cut by the Federal Reserve on December 18," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green.
Wall Street ended mostly higher on Wednesday.
"The bull run in the US is continuing unabated with Nasdaq setting a new record and closing above 20,000 yesterday. The strength of the mother market, which indicates that the global market rally is intact, is a support for other markets, too.
"Even though the US CPI inflation in November at 2.7% has come a bit above the October numbers, this was on expected lines and, therefore, the expectation of a 25 bps rate cut by the Fed is intact," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.
In India the November CPI numbers to be released today will be keenly watched, he added.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,012.24 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude quoted 0.04 per cent up at USD 73.55 a barrel.
The 30-share BSE benchmark rose by 16.09 points or 0.02 per cent to settle at 81,526.14 on Wednesday. The Nifty advanced 31.75 points or 0.13 per cent to settle at 24,641.80.
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