Sensex up 103 points in early trade

The BSE benchmark index Sensex today rose over 103 points in early trade on emergence of buying at prevailing levels amid a firming trend overseas.
The 30-share index, which had lost 686.25 points in the last four sessions, recovered by 103.29 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 18,987.48 points with all the sectoral indices gaining up to 0.85 per cent.
In a similar fashion, wide-based National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, moved up by 29.30 points, or 0.51 per cent to 5,723.70.
Brokers said a fresh spell of buying by funds and retail investors after recent losses and a firming trend overseas, after data showed that manufacturing activity in China picked up strongly in March, helped the trading sentiment to improve here.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up by 0.19 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index was being quoted 1.29 per cent higher in the morning trade today.
The US the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.39 per cent higher yesterday.