MUMBAI: Extending gains for the fourth straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 56 points in early trade on sustained buying by funds and investors amid a mixed trend on other Asian bourses.

The 30-share index, which had gained 589.81 points in the past three sessions, rose further by 56.03 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 25,974.98 with stocks of FMCG, consumer durables, healthcare, power and IT sectors moving up.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also moved up by 3.95 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 7,743.50.

Brokers said continued buying by funds and investors amidst a mixed trend on other Asian markets influenced sentiments.

They said, however, a cautious approach adopted by participants in view of longer weekend, as markets will remain closed tomorrow on account of Independence Day, limited the gains.

In the IT segment, Infosys was trading 0.28 per cent higher, while Tata Consultancy moved up by 1.09 per cent.

Bucking the trend, stocks of state-owned ONGC fell 1.05 per cent despite company’s 19 per cent rise in net profit for the April-June quarter.

Shares of Tata Steel fell 1.11 per cent after company’s consolidated net profit plunged by 70.38 per cent to 337.33 crore in the April-June quarter.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.60 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.21 per cent in early trade.

The U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.55 per cent higher in Wednesday’s trade.

Keywords: BSE, NSE, Sensex, Nifty, stock exchanges