The BSE benchmark Sensex Tuesday jumped over 300 points led by gains in metal, oil and gas

Mumbai, Mar 12 (PTI) The BSE benchmark Sensex Tuesday jumped over 300 points led by gains in metal, oil and gas, banking and energy stocks amid unabated buying by foreign investors and strong global cues. Key indices extended the pre-election rally on expectations that the incumbent NDA government will get a second term following the announcement of 2019 general election dates earlier this week, experts said.

BSE Sensex was trading 346.60 points, or 0.94 per cent, higher at 37,400.70. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 86.65 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 11,254.70. The 30-share index ended at 37,054.10, up by 382.67 points, or 1.04 per cent, in its previous session Monday; and the Nifty closed at 11,168.05 points, up 132.65 points, or 1.20 per cent  Top gainers in early trade include PowerGrid, NTPC, RIL, L&T, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, HCL Tech and Vedanta, rising over 2.60 per cent.

While, Bharti Airtel and IndusInd Bank were trading in the red. Traders said sustained inflow of foreign funds and positive cues other Asian equities boosted investor sentiment here. On a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 3,810.60 crore on Monday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,955.55 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, market continued rallied after declaration of election date with opinion poll suggesting an edge to the ruling party. "Since many stocks are available at cheap valuation, investors are rushing to high quality mid and small caps to participate in the pre-election rally," he said, adding that market is also awaiting CPI inflation data, scheduled for release later in the day.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.37 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.61 per cent higher, Kospi was up 0.84 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei gained 1.88 per cent in early trade. On Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.79 per cent higher on Monday. The rupee, meanwhile, was appreciated 22 paise against US dollar to 69.67. The benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.38 per cent to USD 66.83 per barrel.