Mumbai, February 28: Indian stocks saw gains accelerate in later morning trade Monday, as Finance Minister Mukherjee began to unveil budget spending measures including lower duties for oil imports and tax breaks on interests for home loans.
The Sensex was up 1.3% at 17,930.86, with the gains led by a 3% jump in shares of both Oil & Natural Gas and Housing Development Finance Corp. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, gains were led by the realty sector, up 2.4% and the oil and gas sector, up 2.3%.
Earlier in the day, the Sensex opened over 114 points higher in opening trade on the back of increased buying by foreign funds and retail investors ahead of Budget 2011-2012, which is slated to be announced later in the day.
The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which gained 68.50 points in the previous session, rose by another 114.07 points, or 0.64 percent, to 17,814.98 in the first few minutes of trade Monday.
Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index moved up by 33.40 points, or 0.62 percent, to 5,336.95.
Brokers said continued buying by funds and retail investors on expectations of an investor-friendly Budget for the year 2011-12 influenced the trading sentiment.
Capital goods, PSU, oil and gas, banking, realty and consumer durables stocks were in keen demand, accounting for most of the gains on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up by 0.39 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei index was down 0.22 percent in early trade Monday.
-PTI