Sensex up 300 points, Nifty above 11,500

Mumbai, March 18 (IANS) The benchmark Sensex jumped over 300 points higher, while the Nifty crossed the 10,500 mark during the morning trade session on Monday.

Sentiments continued to be upbeat over sustained inflows of foreign funds and healthy buying seen in the key finance and banking stocks.

Except for the auto and pharma stocks, all the sectors traded in the green.

The Sensex of the BSE opened at 38,132.96 from its previous close at 38,024.32 on Friday.

At 9.44 a.m., the Sensex traded at 38,324.59 up 300.27 points or 0.79 per cent.

The Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 11,473.85 after closing at 11,426.85 on Friday.

The Nifty traded at 11,522.80 during the morning trade session, up 95.95 points and 0.84 per cent.

Foreign Institutional Investors bought stocks worth Rs 4,323.49 crore on Friday while Domestic Institutional Investors sold scrips worth Rs 2,130.36 crore.