Sensex regains 27,000-mark, Nifty tops 8,300

Mumbai: Sensex surged over 151 points to breach the 27,000-level and Nifty hit the crucial 8,300-mark in opening trade today following widespread gains as investors widened their bets amid a firming trend in Asian markets.

However, caution prevailed ahead of macroeconomic data and quarterly earnings from blue-chip companies.

The 30-share index, which gained 173.01 points in the previous session, added 151.01 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 27,050.57 with all the sectoral indices led by metal, capital goods and bank leading the gains.

The NSE Nifty reclaimed the 8,300-mark by climbing 45.15 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 8,333.75. Brokers said a flurry of buying by retail investors and domestic institutional investors amid a firming trend at other Asian markets with commodities-linked shares leading gains boosted by China's strong inflation reading mainly influenced the sentiment.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading higher by 0.74 per cent, while Nikkei surged by 0.36 per cent in early trade. Shanghai's Composite index, however, was marginally down.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.16 per cent down in yesterday's trade.