Markets open firm, ITC top gainer
ITC lead gains
Benchmark share indices opened marginally higher on Thursday amid firm Asian cues and marginal gains in rupee against the dollar. At 9:45, the 30-share Sensex was up 156 points at 16,186 and the 50-share Nifty was up 48 points at 4,907.
Rupee was trading at Rs 54.31 against Wednesday’s close of Rs 54.49.
On the global front, Asian shares steadied on Thursday from the previous day's sell-off, but investors found no reason to bet on risk amid deepening turmoil in Greece and fears of contagion to other stressed euro zone economies.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1%, after sliding more than 3% for its biggest one-day drop in six months on Wednesday. The Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng and Straits Times were up 0.5-0.6% each.
US stocks and the euro slid on Wednesday on news that some Greek banks face emergency funding needs, while minutes from the Federal Reserve's April meeting showed US economic prospects remain sobering.
Back home, all the sectoral indices are trading in green zone. BSE FMCG index has surged by nearly 2% followed by counters like Realty, Power, Healthcare, Banks, PSU, Metal, Consumer Durable, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas and Auto, all gaining by almost 1% each.
ITC is the top Sensex gainer, up over 2%. HUL has gained over 1%.
Banking and financial shares like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC have gained by nearly 1% each.
From the Auto space, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Moto and Tata Motors have gained between 1-2%.
Other notable gainers include DLF, BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Tata Power.
Meanwhile, Meanwhile, BSE Midcap index has gained by 0.9% whereas BSE Smallcap index is up 0.6%.
Among other shares, Cox and Kings has rallied up to 5% at Rs 150 after the company said it is planning to raise up to $140 million (approx Rs 760 crore) from an institutional investor for its UK subsidiary.
The market breadth in BSE remains healthy with 956 shares advancing and 411 shares declining.