Sensex firms up 78 pts in early trade on F&O expiry

Mumbai, Aug 25 (PTI) Continuing its upmove for the thirdstraight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose nearly 78points to 28,137.93 in early trade today with participantsindulging in short-covering in view of August derivativesseries expiry. The 30-share index was trading higher by 77.99 points,or 0.27 per cent, to 28,137.93. The gauge had gained 74.40points in the previous two sessions. All the sectoral indices led by healthare, FMCG, autoand oil&gas trading in the green, rising by up to 0.65 percent. The NSE Nifty rose 25.60 points, or 0.29 per cent, to8,675.90 in early trade. Short-covering by participants with today being the lasttrading session of August series contracts in the derivativessegment supported the upmove. Major gainers that supported the key indices were Cipla,Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, ITC Ltd, Lupin, Sun Pharma, M&M, HeroMotoCorp, Coal India, TCS and Dr Reddy’s, gaining by up to1.43 per cent. On the other hand, other Asian markets were trading inthe negative zone in their early trade, taking weak lead fromovernight losses on the US markets as investors await a keyspeech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen later this week. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.07 per cent while Japan’sNikkei down by 0.25 per cent in early trade today. TheShanghai Composite Index too was inched lower by 1.08 percent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.35 per centlower yesterday. PTI SUN KPSMKJ