Mumbai: Continuing its upmove for the third straight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose nearly 78 points to 28,137.93 in early trade today with participants indulging in short-covering in view of August derivatives series expiry.
The 30-share index was trading higher by 77.99 points, or 0.27 percent, to 28,137.93. The gauge had gained 74.40 points in the previous two sessions.
All the sectoral indices led by healthare, FMCG, auto and oil&gas trading in the green, rising by up to 0.65 percent.
The NSE Nifty rose 25.60 points, or 0.29 percent, to 8,675.90 in early trade.
Short-covering by participants with today being the last trading session of August series contracts in the derivatives segment supported the upmove.
Major gainers that supported the key indices were Cipla, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, ITC Ltd, Lupin, Sun Pharma, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, TCS and Dr Reddy's, gaining by up to 1.43 percent.
On the other hand, other Asian markets were trading in the negative zone in their early trade, taking weak lead from overnight losses on the US markets as investors await a key speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen later this week.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.07 percent while Japan's Nikkei down by 0.25 percent in early trade today. The Shanghai Composite Index too was inched lower by 1.08 percent.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.35 percent lower yesterday.
