Despite the increasing tension between Russia and Ukraine, the Sensex rose more than 350 points in early trade on Thursday, reflecting bullish trends in Asian markets.

The 30-share Sensex was up 353.52 points, or 0.64%, at 55,822.42, while the broader Nifty was up 110.45 points, or 0.67%, at 16,716.40.

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IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing nearly 2%, followed by PowerGrid, NTPC, Wipro, Tata Steel and Tech Mahindra. On the other hand, Asian Paints, Maruti, Ultratech Cement, Nestle India and TCS were the losers, shedding up to 1.09%.

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The broader indices were trading in green with the BSE Mid cap index rising 0.54%, while the Small cap index was up by 1.08%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 2.24%, Utilities up by 2.17%, Oil & Gas up by 1.92%, IT up by 1.55%, TECK up by 1.38%, while Bankex down by 0.16%, Auto down by 0.09% were the only losing indices on BSE.

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The index fell 778.38 points, or 1.38%, in the previous session to close at 55,468.90. Similarly, the NSE Nifty dropped 187.95 points, or 1.12%, to 16,605.95.

In mid-session trades, bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo were trading with strong gains. In the overnight session, stock markets in the United States closed in positive territory.

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Russia and Ukraine stated on Wednesday that they were ready to conduct talks for the second round since the Russian invasion began last week.

According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors maintained their selling binge in Indian markets on Wednesday, offloading shares worth Rs 4,338.94 crore on a net basis.

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Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 2.83% to USD 116.13 a barrel. In early trade, the rupee is up 6 paise against the US dollar, trading at 75.74.