For the third successive session, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex moved further on Thursday to gain over 89 points in the early trade, though alternate bouts of buying and selling by investors ahead of inflation data also saw some range-bound volatility on the bourse.
The Sensex, which had gained nearly 690 points in the past two sessions, gained fresh 89.51 points at 9,744.41 in the initial five minutes of trading, and shuttled in a narrow range of 9,744.41 and 9,615.47 points.
The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also improved by 17.05 points to 2,945.30 points from its last close.
Marketmen said apart from government's bailout package and cut in the key policy rates by the Reserve Bank to inject more liquidity into the financial system and expectations of further decline in the inflation rate also supported the firming trend on the bourses.
Gainers among banking stocks included country's largest lender State Bank of India, which gained Rs 3.65, or 0.31 per cent at Rs 1,192.85, ICICI Bank rose by Rs 9, or 2.25 per cent at Rs 408.95 and HDFC Bank moved up by Rs 4.15, or 0.45 per cent at Rs 929.
Other firm counters also lending support to the market included Sterlite Industries, RCom, DLF Ltd, Jaiprakash Associates, Ranbaxy Lab and Tata Motors.
Activity in the Mid-cap and Small-cap segments also picked up with their indices showing impressive gains.
Brokers said a revival in capital inflows is expected to have a sentimental impact on the market.
Foreign Institutional Investors pumped in Rs 950.65 crore in equity on December 10, as per provisional data.
However, Asian markets were narrowly mixed in early trade on Thursday after the US stocks showed stability on Wednesday night.
