Sensex zooms over 250 points, Nifty nears 9,900-mark

New Delhi: The Sensex rose over 250 points while the broader Nifty inched closer to 9,900-mark in early trade Tuesday picking up a strong lead from international markets.

The 30-share flagship index was up 253.47 points, or 0.81 percent, at 31,537.19. The 50-share NSE Nifty also traded higher by 75.05 points, or 0.77 percent, at 9,863.65.

Tata Motors went up 4.93 percent, M&M 2.09 percent, Bajaj Auto 2.08 percent and Asian Paints 2.04 percent.

The rupee, however, fell sharply by 32 paise to 65.60 against the dollar in opening trade today as the greenback took on more strength overseas.

In Asia, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.77 percent, or 157.45 points, to 20,558.23 by the lunch break, breaking above the 20,500 level for the first time in more than two years, while the broader Topix index gained 0.45 percent, or 7.52 points, to end the morning at 1,681.14.

Tokyo's rise came as all three main US indices pushed to fresh record highs on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.7 percent to close at 22,557.60, following strong economic data.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 2,529.12, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 percent to 6,516.72.