Markets open higher on bargain-hunting

Markets opened on a positive note this Monday on account of bargain-hunting in sectors such as banks, real-estate and metal after the last week’s selloff.

Trading was, however, cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy meet later this week amid expectations of an interest rate cut to boost growth.

At 9:15AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 19.95 points to open at 19,306.67 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty gained 6.15 points at 5,877.60.

Global risk appetite was frail on concerns over growth recovery in Asia after weak set of economic data from US and Eurozone.

Among the key Asian indices, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.1 % to 22,528 while Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.25% at 3,357.69 in the opening deals. Markets in China and Japan are closed today for a holiday.

On Friday, US stocks dropped after weak gross domestic product report but closed on a flat note on account of bargain-hunting by traders.

The Dow Jones industrial average  rose 11.75 points or 0.08 percent, to 14,712.55, the S&P 500  lost 2.92 points or 0.18 percent, to 1,582.24 and the Nasdaq Composite  dropped 10.72 points or 0.33 percent, to 3,279.26.

Investors are now focussed on the U.S. Federal Reserve will start a two-day policy meeting tomorrow after a government report last week showed the world’s largest economy expanded less than economists’ forecast.

Back home, the key sectoral indices such as power, PSU, real-estate, metals and capital goods gained while IT and consumer durables declined on the BSE.

The broader markets gained mid-caps and small-caps rising 0.1-0.2% on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 561 stocks traded, 389 stocks advanced compared to 153 declines on BSE.