Sensex gains 110 points in early trade; Nifty above 17,400

Equity benchmark Sensex advanced over 110 points in opening trade on Monday, tracking gains in index majors M&M, Reliance Industries and HDFC twins amid a mixed trend in global markets.

After opening on a weak note, the 30-share BSE benchmark rose 111.88 points or 0.19% to 58,499.81 in morning deals.

The broader NSE Nifty gained 25.70 points or 0.15% to 17,423.20. Mahindra & Mahindra was the biggest gainer from the Sensex pack, rising more than 2%, followed by IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Maruti.

State Bank of India, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank were among the major laggards.

In Asia, markets in Tokyo and Shanghai were trading higher, while Seoul and Hong Kong quoted lower.

The U.S. markets had ended mostly lower on Friday.

The BSE benchmark ended 89.13 points or 0.15% higher at 58,387.93 on Friday. The Nifty went up by 15.50 points or 0.09% to finish at 17,397.50.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude went higher by 0.21% to USD 95.12 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital markets as they bought shares worth Rs 1,605.81 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.