Equity benchmark indices rallied in early trade on Wednesday amid continuous foreign fund inflows along with buying in heavyweight IT stocks, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 305.44 points to 66,479.64 in early trade after beginning the day on a positive note. The Nifty went up by 103 points to 19,992.70.

Among the Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries were the major gainers.

Power Grid and NTPC were the laggards.

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

The US markets ended marginally up on Tuesday.

"Since the global market backdrop continues to be favourable, the rally in India is likely to continue. The drop in US 10-year bond yield to 4.3 per cent and the dollar index dropping below 103 are positive for equity markets.

"FIIs have turned buyers responding to the changed reality," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.02 per cent to USD 81.66 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 783.82 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark climbed 204.16 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 66,174.20 on Tuesday. The Nifty gained 95 points or 0.48 per cent to 19,889.70.

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