Sensex up over 200 points on sustained buying by investors

The market benchmark BSE Sensex was trading up 248.24 points, or 1.02%, to  24,586.67 intraday on Friday on sustained buying by investors amid a mixed trend in other Asian markets.

Earlier in the morning, the 30-share index, which gained 115.11 points in the previous session, added 58.56 points, or 0.24%, to 24,396.99, with stocks of banking, metal, capital goods, consumer durables, auto and FMCG leading the gains. 

The NSE Nifty was also trading higher by 23.30 points, or 0.31%, at 7,427.30.

Brokers said an increased buying by investors in blue-chip stocks amid a mixed trend in other Asian markets and overnight gains in the US markets, mainly influenced the sentiment.  However, shares of Tata Steel plunged 3.65% to Rs 217.90 after the company on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,127.23 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading higher by 0.54%, while Japan's Nikkei fell by 1.49% in early trade. Shanghai Composite Index was marginally up by 2.06 points.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.49% higher in Thursday's trade.