Sensex jumps 345 points in early trade, Nifty above 16,300

Benchmark indices continued their upward march for the third day running on Wednesday, with the Sensex jumping nearly 345 points in early trade, amid rally in the US markets and buying in index majors Infosys and HDFC Bank.

The 30-share BSE benchmark was trading 344.71 points higher at 54,663.18. The broader NSE Nifty gained 101.15 points to 16,360.45.

From the Sensex firms, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Wipro and HDFC Bank were the major gainers in early deals.

In contrast, Power Grid, NTPC and Tata Steel were the laggards.

Markets in Asia were trading on a mixed note, with Seoul and Tokyo quoting in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong traded lower.

Stock exchanges in the US had ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

In the previous trade, the BSE benchmark zoomed 1,344.63 points or 2.54 per cent to settle at 54,318.47. The NSE Nifty rallied 417 points or 2.63 per cent to finish at 16,259.30 points.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.4 per cent to USD 112.35 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors continued to offload shares worth ₹2,192.44 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.