Sensex surges 106 pts in early trade on F&O expiry

TIL Desk/Business/Mumbai-The benchmark BSE Sensex climbed about 106 points in early trade on Thursday on widespread gains as retail investors and domestic institutional investors indulged in buying. Short-covering of outstanding positions — Thursday being the last session of February series expiry in the derivatives segment — kept the ongoing rising trend strong.

The 30-share index, which had gained 709.15 points in the previous five sessions, rallied by 105.54 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 28,970.25. Technology, realty, consumer durables, IT, oil and gas and healthcare sector stocks were leading the rally, which lifted sentiments. Shares of telecom major Bharti Airtel zoomed 10 per cent after it announced the decision to acquire Telenor India assets.

Other telecom shares such as Idea Cellular rose 7 per cent, Reliance Communication gained 3.92 per cent and Tata Teleservices went up by 4.52 per cent. The NSE Nifty was also trading higher by 30.25 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 8,957.15.