Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty climbed in early trade on Monday amid buying in blue-chip stocks Reliance Industries and ITC along with encouraging participation from retail investors.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 287.56 points to 80,724.40 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 97.65 points to 24,638.80.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, NTPC, Titan, Tata Steel, ITC, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were the biggest gainers.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted higher while Seoul and Tokyo traded lower.

The US markets ended in the positive territory on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Friday as they bought equities worth Rs 766.52 crore, according to exchange data.

Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,606.18 crore on Friday.

"The complete dominance of the DII and retail investors over the market is the single major factor driving this bull run even though there are fundamental factors supporting the rally," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.19 per cent to USD 79.53 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark jumped 1,330.96 points or 1.68 per cent to settle at 80,436.84 on Friday, marking its best single-day gains in more than two months. The NSE Nifty surged 397.40 points or 1.65 per cent to settle at a two-week high of 24,541.15.

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