Sensex scales past 29,000-mark, up 217 pts in early trade

TIL Desk/Business/Mumbai-The BSE Sensex staged a smart recovery by about 217 points to top the 29,000-mark in early trade today as fresh buying by investors led to widespread gains amid a mixed trend in other Asian markets.

The broader NSE Nifty too followed suit, going past the 8,900-mark. The 30-share index, which had lost 152.04 points in the previous two sessions, recovered sharply by 216.60 points, or 0.75 per cent, to trade at 29,049.05.

Brokers said that besides buying by retail investors, pumping of funds into the market by domestic institutional investors too contributed to the recovery. Stocks of auto, banking, PSU, oil & gas, power, capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, realty and metal led the gains.