Sensex trades higher amid positive global cues

Mumbai, Oct 7: Indian equity indices opened in the green on Monday following global cues from the US and Asian markets.

At 9.51 a.m., Sensex was up 193 points or 0.24 per cent at 81,882 and Nifty was up 36 points or 0.15 per cent at 25,051.

However, the market trend remained negative. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE) 1,737 shares were in the red and 658 shares in the green.

In the Sensex pack, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Tata Motors, UltraTech Cement, Nestle, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Infosys, Axis Bank and SBI were the top gainers. Titan, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid, HUL, Sun Pharma, L&T and Asian Paints were the top losers.

Hardik Matalia, Derivative analyst of Choice Broking said after a positive opening, Nifty can find support at 25,000 followed by 24,900 and 24,750. On the higher side, 25,150 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 25,250 and 25,300.

Selling was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. The Nifty midcap 100 index slipped 113 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 58,374 and the Nifty smallcap 100 index slipped 60 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 18,702.

Most Asian markets are trading with gains. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta were major gainers. The US markets closed with gains on Friday.

According to the market experts, "Globally stock markets have been resilient despite the escalating tensions in the Middle East. A big positive for equity markets is the strong US economy where the September non-farm job numbers have come surprisingly robust at 2.54 lakhs. The combination of a strong economy and declining inflation in the mother market of the US is a big positive."

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 9,896.95 crore on October 4, while domestic institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 8,905 crore on the same day.