Mumbai, Aug 1 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices maintained their winning momentum in early trade on Tuesday amid firm global market trends and buying in IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 118.13 points to 66,645.80 in early trade. The NSE Nifty gained 41.8 points to 19,795.60.

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From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, JSW Steel, ITC, Infosys and Bharti Airtel were the biggest gainers.

Power Grid, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv and Reliance Industries were the laggards.

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In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai were quoting with gains while Hong Kong traded lower.

The US markets ended in the green on Monday.

"The resilience of the mother market US, where the rally is spreading to the broader market, is supporting global markets," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude quoted 0.67 per cent higher at USD 85.56 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 701.17 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

The Sensex jumped 367.47 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 66,527.67 on Monday. The Nifty climbed 107.75 points or 0.55 per cent to end at 19,753.80.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)