Sensex rises over 50 pts in opening trade, Nifty tests 11,150

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened with marginal gains on Thursday led by buying in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC and ITC amid positive cues from global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 59.02 points, or 0.16 per cent, higher at 37,930.54.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty advanced 34.70 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 11,167.30.

Asian Paints was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by L&T, Sun Pharma, ITC, Titan, HDFC, SBI and ONGC.

On the other hand, Axis Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, M&M and PowerGrid were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer finished 58.81 points, or 0.16 per cent, lower at 37,871.52, and the Nifty slipped 29.65 points, or 0.27 per cent, to close at 11,132.60.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Wednesday, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,665.57 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, movement in domestic benchmarks remained muted amid lack of strong directional cues.

Market bias remained positive on firm global trend and sustained foreign fund inflows, they said.

Bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading on a positive note, while Hong Kong slipped into red.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street too ended on a firm note in overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.18 per cent to USD 44.37 per barrel.