Mumbai, March 9: The BSE Sensex extended gains for the second straight day by rising about 139 points in opening trade on sustained buying by domestic institutional investors amid a firm trend at other Asian bourses. The 30-share barometer, which had gained 318.48 points in the previous session, was trading higher by 138.52 points, or 0.41 percent, at 33,490.09. Sectoral indices led by Metal, IT, Teck, Consumer Durables and FMCG led the gains, rising by up to 0.64 per cent.

On similar lines, the NSE Nifty was up by 35.35 points, or 0.34 percent, at 10,278 points. Traders said sentiment remained upbeat on increased buying by domestic institutional investors and a firm trend at other Asian markets, extending gains on Wall Street following signs from the White House that US President Donald Trump's tariffs may be softer than initially feared.

Major gainers that supported the up-move were Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC, ITC and Dr Reddy's, rising by up to 1.03 percent. However, Gitanjali Gems remained under selling pressure and traded 4.82 per cent lower at Rs 15.80.

Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 675.26 crore, while foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 364.80 crore yesterday, provisional data showed. Globally, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.85 percent, Shanghai's Composite rose 0.11 percent and Japan's Nikkei went up by 0.87 percent in early deals. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.38 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.