Sensex up by 29 points in morning trade

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex gained 29 points in morning trade on persistent buying, mainly in oil & gas, banking, auto, consumer durables and capital goods stocks  amid sustained foreign capital inflows and firm Asian cues.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth  Rs 864.35 crore, as per provisional data from the  stock exchanges.  The Sensex resumed lower at 21,736.61 on initial selling,  but recovered immediately to a high of 21,913.04 before  trading at 21,885.54 , showing a gain of 29.32  points, or 0.13 per cent, from its last close.  The NSE Nifty also moved up by 13.60 points, or 0.21 per  cent, to 6,530.50. 

Major gainers were RIL (2.28 per cent), SBI (2.22 per  cent), Tata Power (2.04 per cent), ONGC (1.72 per cent), Dr  Reddy's Lab (1.62 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.62 per cent), ICICI  Bank (1.60 per cent).  Key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, South Korea,  Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan were up by 0.47-1.26 per cent while  Singapore's Straits Times fell 0.21 per cent. 

Meanwhile, US stocks were mostly higher yesterday amid  signs of progress in diplomatic attempts to ease tensions in  Ukraine and as investors shrugged off concern over weakness in  the Chinese economy.