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Markets climb in early trade on buying in IT stocks, foreign fund inflows

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty maintained their winning run on Thursday, beginning the day on a firm note, propelled by buying in IT stocks amid a rally in the US markets and fresh foreign fund inflows. Rallying for the fifth day running, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 242.54 points to 81,198.87 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 72.5 points to 24,539.95.