Stock market rally for 4th day running in early trade; Sensex at 73,243

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Wednesday, rallying for the fourth day running, amid buying in Reliance Industries and ITC along with a firm trend in the US markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 138.53 points to 73,243.14 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 60.7 points to 22,278.55.

From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Reliance Industries, Power Grid, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were the major gainers.

HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in the positive territory while Shanghai quoted lower.

Wall Street ended with gains on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.72 per cent to USD 82.96 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,065.52 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark climbed 328.48 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 73,104.61 on Tuesday. The NSE Nifty went up 113.80 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 22,217.85.