Mumbai, Nov 16 (ANI): The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark index Sensex today crossed the 17,000 mark in early trade, tracking firm Asian markets.

It gathered more than 194 points to trade over 17,000 points level, expanding previous session’s increase on continued buying by funds, driven by firming trends on the other Asian bourses.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed by 194.48 points, or 1.15 per cent to trade well above 17,000 points level at 17,043.31 in the beginning trade with all the sectoral indices trading in positive zone with gains up to 2.25 per cent.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange (NSE) index Nifty also added 56.45 points to 5,055.40.

Among the Sensex stocks, Sterlite Ind led the gainers. The stock rose 2.5 per cent in early trades. Hero Honda, Maruti Suzuki and DLF were the other major gainers in the pack, up over 1.7 per cent.

Major gainers, which supported the Sensex were Reliance Industries by 1.29 per cent to Rs 2,143.95, Reliance Infra by 0.99 per cent to Rs 1,164.05, DLF Ltd by 2.54 per cent to Rs 377.90, State Bank of India by 2.43 per cent to Rs 2,354, Sterlite Industries by 2.42 per cent to Rs 857.50, Maruti Suzuki by 2.47 per cent to Rs 1,516.35 and Tata Motors by 1.87 per cent to Rs 631.10.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up by 1.3 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei by 0.15 per cent higher in the opening trade today. (ANI)