Sensex gains 152 pts in early trade

Mumbai, Jan 18 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmarkSensex rose by 152 points in early trade today on buying byfunds on impressive corporate earnings and firm global cues.

The 30-share index rose by 152.11 points to 19,034.36points.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index movedup by 58.35 points to 5,713.10 points.

Brokers said firming trend in global markets and betterearnings announced by IT giant TCS last evening mainlyinfluenced the trading sentiment.

On global front, the Hong Kong''s Hang Seng index was up0.22 per cent, while the Japan''s Nikkei traded lower by 0.40per cent in the morning trade today. The US Dow JonesIndustrial Average ended 0.47 per cent up yesterday.