After a two-day break, the Sensex advanced in early trade in a catch-up rally because of continued buying action witnessed IT and FMCG stocks.

Industrial output data is likely to be declared today.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index gained 0.56% and 0.52% respectively.

Sudhanshu Pandey, technical analyst with LKP Shares, said, “The markets are witnessing a technical bounce. Investors should avoid bottom fishing at this stage.”

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened with a gain of 114.38 points, at 8,274.78 on Thursday. In the previous day session, the Sensex marked its closure after losing 165.42 points, whereas the NSE Nifty lost 47.15 points, or 1.80%.

At 10.54 a.m., the 30-share index Sensex gained 130.41 points at 8,290.81 after hitting a high of 8,375.55 and a low of 8,274.78. Meanwhile the broad based Nifty was trading higher by 29.40 points at 2,602.40 after touching a high of 2,632.85 and a low of 2,574.50.

Among the Sensex scrips, ICICI Bank was the biggest gainer. It has advanced 3.94%. Sterlite Industries (India), HUL, Maruti Suzuki India, Infosys Technologies and ITC were the other main gainers in the pack with hefty gains.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel (4.30%), Tata Power Company (1.52%), and NTPC (0.45%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Key Asian indices, however, are trading lower today. China’s Shanghai Composite, South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei are down more than 1.6 per cent each.

But, Asian stocks declined amid renewed fear that the deepening global slump will cause company profits to weaken further.

Nikkei lost 167.80 points to trade at 7,208.32, Hang Seng fell 56.78 points to trade at 11,873.88 and Straits Times declined 20.14 points to trade at 1,485.37.  

US stocks ended with modest gains on Wednesday led by buying in financial scrips.

The Dow rose 3.91, or  0.1 percent, to 6,930.40. This was the first two-day climb for the index since February 5-6. On Tuesday, the Dow rallied 379 points to 6,926.

The S&P 500 index rose 1.76, or 0.2 percent, to 721.36, while the Nasdaq composite index, which has a heavy representation of tech stocks, rose 13.36, or 1 percent, to 1,371.64.