Equity benchmark indices continued their winning momentum in early trade on Friday, shrugging off weak global market trends, helped by buying in Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finserv.

The BSE Sensex climbed 174.96 points to 66,440.52 in early trade. The Nifty advanced 49.55 points to 19,776.60.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Maruti, Tata Steel and State Bank of India were the major gainers.

Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank and JSW Steel were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the negative territory.

The US markets ended on a mixed note on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.53 per cent to USD 89.44 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 758.55 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

"Sustained DII (Domestic Institutional Investors) investment supported by strong retail buying is driving the market higher in spite of FII selling.

"In spite of this net institutional selling, Nifty is up by 434 points for the month so far. This, and the hyper activity in the mid and smallcap segments, point to the active participation of retail investors in the rally," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE benchmark ended with a gain of 385.04 points or 0.58 per cent at 66,265.56 on Thursday. The Nifty advanced 116 points or 0.59 per cent to settle at 19,727.05.

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