Mumbai, Aug 3: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped nearly 245 points in early trade on Tuesday, tracking gains in index majors HDFC, TCS and Infosys and supported by positive macroeconomic indicators.

The 30-share index was trading 244.77 points or 0.46 per cent higher at 53,195.40 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 56.85 points or 0.36 per cent to 15,942.

Asian Paints was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3 per cent, followed by Titan, PowerGrid, HDFC, M&M and Tech Mahindra.

On the other hand, HCL Tech, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank and NTPC were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex rallied 363.79 points or 0.69 per cent to finish at 52,950.63, while Nifty surged 122.10 points or 0.77 per cent to 15,885.15.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,539.88 crore on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.

According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, fundamental support to the bulls has been coming from good corporate results.

"Now the macros are turning very positive with the declining fiscal deficit, rising tax collections, and now the excellent performance in exports which shot up by 48 per cent in July. The PMI at 55.3 indicates a potential sharp turnaround in economic activity.

"This can embolden the bulls to take Nifty beyond 15,950 early in August unless FIIs turn massive sellers at those levels," he said.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading with losses in mid-session deals, while Shanghai and Seoul were positive.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.07 per cent to USD 72.94 per barrel.

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