Sensex surges 138 pts in early trade; Maruti up 9%

The benchmark BSE Sensex jumped nearly 138 points in early trade today as stocks across the board gained on sustained buying by funds amid a firm trend on other Asian bourses.
The 30-share index rose 137.66 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 21,947.46 with all sectoral indices, led by auto, metal and banking gaining up to 1.48 per cent. The index had gained 35.19 points in the previous session on Friday.
The wide-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange moved up by 47.35 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 6,551.55.
Stock market remained closed yesterday for 'Holi'.
Brokers said sustained buying by funds and retail investors following a firming trend on other Asian bourses tracking overnight gains on the US market after data showing industrial output increased more than expected in February, mainly buoyed the trading sentiment here.

Shares of country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki soared 9.37 per cent to Rs 1,899.90 after the company decided to seek approval of minority shareholders for controversial Gujarat plant, which it's parent Suzuki Motor Corp had decided to takeover from it.

Other major gainers were Axis Bank (1.62 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.47 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.15 per cent), Bajaj Auto (1.03 per cent), BHEL (2.56 per cent), GAIL India (1.91 per cent), Infosys (0.31 per cent) and RIL (1.53 per cent).
In the Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 0.50 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei was up by 1.08 per cent in early trade today.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.13 per cent in yesterday's trade.