Markets trade firm in early trade

Mumbai, January 2

Equity benchmarks started the first day of trade of the New Year on a positive note amid buying in index majors Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 123.53 points to 60,964.27 on Monday. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 47.9 points to 18,153.20.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement were the major winners.

Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Power Grid were the major laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul traded lower.

Markets in the US ended lower on Friday.

The BSE benchmark fell 293.14 points or 0.48 per cent to settle at 60,840.74 on Friday. The Nifty declined 85.70 points or 0.47 per cent to end at 18,105.30.

International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 2.94 per cent to USD 85.91 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded shares worth Rs 2,950.89 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.