Extending gains for the third straight session, the BSE benchmark Sensex today rose by nearly 67 points in early trade on the back of a smart rally in Reliance Industries shares, after the company posted better-than-expected third quarter earnings.

“The 30-share index, which had gained over 221 points in the previous two sessions, rose by 66.79 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 20,105.83 in early trade, led by stock markets of oil and gas, power, capital goods and realty sectors.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 11.60 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 6,076.00  Buying activity gathered momentum after better-than- expected third quarter earnings by Reliance Industries, brokers said.

Shares of RIL traded over 6 per cent higher at Rs 954.80 in early trade, after the company reported 24 per cent jump in the third quarter net profits, the first increase after four quarters of declining returns, on the back of record earnings form oil refining business.

Meanwhile, in the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was, however, down by 0.28 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei Index shed 0.85 per cent in the morning trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.39 per cent higher in previous session on Friday.

(Reuters): Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange rose 0.22 percent. The MSCI-Asia Pacific index, excluding Japan was up 0.04 percent. Asian shares were range-bound on Monday, taking a breather after hitting multi month highs, while the yen touched a new low ahead of the outcome of the Bank of Japan policy meeting this week amid expectations for bold monetary easing measures.

The Dow and S&P 500 closed at five-year highs on Friday as the market registered a third straight week of gains on a solid start to the quarterly earnings season. Earnings: NTPC Ltd, Asian Paints Ltd, Cairn India Ltd, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd

State Bank of India said on Saturday that its board had approved a capital injection of 30.04 billion rupees ($558 million) by the Indian government through preferential allotment of shares in the current fiscal year. Fiscal discipline and tightening of expenditure will help meet the deficit target of 5.3 per cent of GDP, a top finance ministry official has said.

L&T Finance is in advanced stages of negotiations to buy Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business in India, said a person familiar with the matter. Reliance Industries Ltd posted its first profit increase after four quarters of declining returns, buoyed by improving margins in its core oil refining business.

Separately, Reliance Industries plans to consolidate all its retail units under a single entity, a person with the direct knowledge of the development said. ONGC Videsh Ltd, the foreign investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, has discovered oil on an onland block, CPO-5, in Colombia, it said in a statement on Sunday.

“Reliance Industries has requested the Bombay High Court to defer its proceedings on a writ petition filed by SEBI against a November order by the Central Information Commission (CIC) till proceedings before the Delhi High Court in the matter are heard and disposed.