New Delhi: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty climbed in early trade on Monday amid buying in blue-chip stocks Reliance Industries and ITC along with encouraging participation from retail investors.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 287.56 points to 80,724.40 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 97.65 points to 24,638.80.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, NTPC, Titan, Tata Steel, ITC, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were the biggest gainers.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Friday as they bought equities worth Rs 766.52 crore, according to exchange data.

Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,606.18 crore on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.19 percent to USD 79.53 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark jumped 1,330.96 points or 1.68 percent to settle at 80,436.84 on Friday, marking its best single-day gains in more than two months. The NSE Nifty surged 397.40 points or 1.65 percent to settle at a two-week high of 24,541.15.

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