In early trade, the Nifty hits 22,300, while the Sensex gains 640 points

The benchmark Sensex and Nifty equity indexes rose early on Monday due to gains in Asian markets, a drop in the price of Brent crude oil, and purchases by overseas investors.

The 30-share BSE Sensex increased 639.85 points to 73,728.18 in early trading, continuing the upward trend from the previous day.

The NSE Nifty reached 22,337.10, up 190.1 points.

The top gainers from the Sensex basket were Tata Steel, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, and Tata Motors.

The laggards were ITC, JSW Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, and HDFC Bank.

Shanghai quoted lower than Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, which were all trading in positive territory in the Asian markets.

Friday’s closing hours on Wall Street were uneventful.

The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude, fell 0.74 percent to USD 86.64 a barrel.

“The likelihood of the expected escalation in the Israel-Iran confrontation is low, which is the largest positive for the market in the short term.

“This anticipated de-escalation is confirmed by the decline in Brent crude from $90 to $87,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) became buyers on Friday, purchasing stocks valued at Rs 129.39 crore, as per exchange data.

On Friday, the BSE benchmark increased by 599.34 points, or 0.83 percent, to end the day at 73,088.33.

The NSE Nifty reached 22,147, up 151.15 points, or 0.69 percent.