Sensex zooms 269 points in early trade

The Finance Ministry proposing a monetary limit for invoking the controversial General Anti-Tax Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in its draft guidelines issued late last night too buoyed the trading sentiments, traders said.

The 30-share barometer, which had climbed by 108 points in the past three sessions, rose by another 269.49 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 17,260.25.

All sectoral indices, led by banking and capital goods, were trading in the positive zone with gains of up to 1.76 per cent.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also moved up by 78.20 points, or 1.57 per cent, to 5,227.35.

Brokers said expectations that capital inflow would pick up after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who himself has taken over the Finance portfolio will initiate steps to prop up the economy buoyed the trading sentiments.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei was up by 1.50 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.96 per cent in early trade.