Sensex gained over 317 points in early trade on Wednesday amid foreign funds turning net buyers of domestic equities after a long gap.

The 30-share BSE benchmark index climbed 317.52 points to 53,451.87 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty rose 81.8 points to 15,892.65 points.

Among the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers.

Tata Steel, NTPC, Power Grid and Reliance Industries were the laggards.

The BSE benchmark declined 100.42 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 53,134.35 on Tuesday. The Nifty dipped 24.50 points or 0.15 per cent to 15,810.85.

"There are lots of signals from markets: Brent crude crashed to near USD 100 a barrel, dollar index rose above 106, rupee again depreciated to an all-time low, euro is at 20-year low to the dollar and, perhaps most importantly from Indian market perspective, FIIs turned buyers after a long gap," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

While crude crash along with corrections in other commodities like metals is a bearish signal indicating the increasing possibility of recession in the US, he said commodity crash is positive for the Indian economy and FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors) turning buyers is a bullish signal for Indian equity market.

"According to preliminary data made public on the NSE, FIIs became net purchasers on July 5 for the first time since May 30, purchasing shares worth Rs 1,295.84 crore," Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS at Hem Securities, said.

FIIs turned net buyers after remaining net sellers in the capital market for past many days, as they bought shares worth Rs 1,295.84 crore on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading lower on Wednesday.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.31 per cent to USD 104.13 per barrel.