Markets open up, Nifty above 5,900

Hopes of BoJ easing supports risk-on sentiments

Markets opened on a positive note on Thursday as investors geared to rollover their portfolios for the fresh January series coupled with hopes of quick resolution to US 'fiscal-cliff' issue.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index rose 62.38 points to open at 19,479.84 while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty-50 index gained 24.60 points and opened at  5,930.20.

US stocks fell for a third session on Wednesday after initial reports showed that 2012 holiday season sales may have been the worst for retailers since the 2008 financial crisis and as investors looked to the resumption of budget negotiations on Capitol Hill.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 24.49 points to 13,114.59, he S&P 500 index  fell 6.83 points to 1,419.83. while Nasdaq Composite declined 22.44 points to 2,990.15.

In Asia, risk appetite was slightly frail on US growth concerns, however, hopes of growth recovery in Asia after minutes of Bank of Japan monetary policy hinted towards further easing supported market sentiments.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 2,214, Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.37% to 3,189, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.45% to 22,642 while Japan's Nikkei gained 1.4% to 10,370.

MSCI Asia Pacific index outside Japan rose 0.3% to 894.29.

On the domestic front, all sectors were in positive with capital goods, power, pharmaceuticals, metal, banks indexes leading the gain on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks, Tata Power gained 0.9%, Jindal Steel and Tata Steel rose 1% in metal space. Among banks, HDFC Bank and ICICI rose 0.4-0.5% while among autos, Maruti Suzuki rose 0.4% and Tata Motors gained 0.3% on BSE.

On the other hand, Coal India fell 0.15%, Reliance Industries declined 0.1% on BSE.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap gained nearly 0.1-0.2%.

The overall breadth was strong as 628 stocks advanced while 224 stocks declined on the BSE.