Markets open flat, focus on Rajya Sabha

Autos, metals lead ginas while IT dropped

Indian shares opened flaton Friday as investors remained cautious ahead of the key FDI vote in Rajya Sabha later today that will decide the fate of  economic reforms in Asia's third-biggest economy.

Markets gained yesterday with Nifty rebounding to 5,900 levels after Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) said it would support foreign direct investment in supermarkets in a vote on Friday in the Rajya Sabha. The other key Samajwadi Party is likely to abstain from voting today paving way for FDI in India.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index opened up 28 points to 19,514 while the National Stock Exchnage's Nifty-50 index gained 3 points to open at 5,934.

Global risk appetite remained firm on hopes of global growth recovery amid hopes of resolution in US budget talks.
U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday a day ahead of the key monthly jobs report, with a rebound in Apple's shares helping to boost the Nasdaq.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 39.55 points at 13,074.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 4.64 points, or 0.33 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,413.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 15.57 points, or 0.52 percent, to close unofficially at 2,989.27.

Meanwhile, Asian shares traded at 16-month high with Shanghai Composite gaining 1% to 2,054,Hang Seng up 0.2% to 22,289 and Straits Times rose 1% to 3,107, Nikkei rose 0.2% to 9,564 while KOSPI Composite was up 0.5% to 1,960.

The MSCI Asia Pacific index outside Japan rose 0.01% to 878 in late morning trades.

Back home, auto, capital goods, metals, indexes rose while technology sector led declines on BSE.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose by nearly 0.3-0.5%.

The overall breadth is strong as 645 stocks have declined while 1822 stocks advanced on the BSE.