Markets trade firm in early trade

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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.

Robust GST collections last month indicate the resilience of the economy, said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) grew 15% to ₹1.49 lakh crore in December 2022, indicating improved manufacturing output and consumption demand, besides better compliance.

Citing the GST collection figures, Prashanth Tapse, Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said, for the time being, investors can heave a sigh of relief.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul traded lower.

Markets in the U.S. ended lower on Friday.

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

International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 2.94% to $85.91 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth ₹2,950.89 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.