Sensex rises 58 points in opening trade on funds buying

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today rose by almost 58 points in opening trade on buying by funds and retail investors.

The 30-share index, which surged by over 841 points in the previous three sessions, gathered another 57.89 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 16,920.95 points.

Auto, metals and oil and gas sector stocks led the gains.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also rose by 15.60 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 5,082.15 points.

Brokers said positive trend in Asian markets and strong corporate earnings, mainly triggered buying by foreign funds on the domestic bourses.

Among auto stocks Tata Motors, the country’s largest auto company, gained 1.23 per cent to Rs. 757.20, Mahindra and Mahindra was up 2.93 per cent to Rs. 561 and Maruti Suzuki rose by 0.89 per cent to Rs. 1,234.

Infra major Jaiprakash Associates traded Rs. 2.48 per cent higher at Rs. 130 after company reported a 166 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs. 1,119.18 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2010.

Tata Power gained 0.30 per cent to Rs. 1,275.50, ONGC was up 2.06 per cent to Rs. 1,154.25 and Bharti Airtel rose 0.38 per cent to Rs. 261.90.