Mumbai, Mar 14: The BSE benchmark Sensex rose over 150 points Thursday led by gains in financial stocks amid unabated foreign fund inflow and positive domestic cues. The 30-share index was trading 141.80 points, or 0.38 per cent, higher at 37,893.97, while the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 33.75 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 11,375.45. In the previous session, the 30-share BSE index ended 216.51 points, or 0.58 per cent, higher at 37,752.17.

The broader NSE Nifty closed with gains of 40.50 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 11,341.70. Top gainers in early trade include Yes Bank, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, HDFC twins, L&T, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and RIL, rising up to 2.50 per cent. While, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, HUL, TCS, ITC and M&M were among the top losers, falling up to 1.37 per cent.

NSE Nifty climbed 33.75 points

According to Sahaj Agrawal of Kotak Securities, Nifty has given a strong breakout and is expected remain strong going ahead. Broad-based participation is seen which supportive of the positive outlook of the market. Domestic equities extended their gains to the fourth session as investors anticipate a better performance by the ruling NDA government in the upcoming general election, helping investors develop risk appetite, amid sustained foreign fund inflows, experts said.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 2,722.28 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,508.14 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.01 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.09 per cent, Kospi shed 0.16 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei was up 0.19 per cent in early trade.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng

On Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.58 per cent higher on Wednesday. The rupee, meanwhile, fell 24 paise to 69.78 against the US dollar in opening trade Thursday on increased demand for the greenback from importers and banks and rising crude oil prices. The benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.37 per cent to trade at USD 67.80 per barrel.