Sensex, Nifty tick higher in opening trade

Market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty logged gains in opening deals on Monday, led by buying in power, capital goods and financial stocks.

The BSE Sensex gained 171.99 points or 0.45 per cent to 38,049.33 in opening trade, while the NSE Nifty rose 52.05 points or 0.47 per cent to 11,230.45.

On the Sensex chart, NTPC, Tata Steel, L&T, Titan and Kotak Bank were among the major gainers – rising as much as 3 per cent.

On Friday, the 30-share Sensex had fallen 433.15 points or 1.13 per cent to close at 37,877.34; while the 50-share Nifty had tumbled 122.05 points or 1.08 per cent to end at 11,178.40.

Meanwhile, international crude oil benchmark Brent was trading 0.40 per cent higher at USD 45.13 per barrel.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors had purchased Indian equities worth Rs 46.39 crore on Friday.

Asian bourses were trading mixed as investors moved cautiously in view of US-China tensions and Japan's economy witnessing its worst ever contraction at 27.8 per cent in the April-June quarter.

Analysts said Indian equities this week will watch out for fresh triggers amid surging coronavirus cases in the country and also take cues from global developments and corporate earnings.

Meanwhile, India's total COVID-19 cases went past the 26-lakh mark and death toll due to the infection rose to nearly 51,000, official data showed.

Globally, the number of cases surpassed 2.16 crore and death toll has topped 7.74 lakh.