Nifty hits 6,300 mark in opening trades

Market has started the week on a firm note tracking positive Asian cues. By 9:30, the Sensex was 93 points at 21,173 mark and the Nifty gained by 25 points at 6,300 levels.

The direction of foreign institutional inflows and the rupee against the dollar would be deciding the stock market trend in the truncated trading week ahead.

With the US Federal Reserve finally announcing the start of a stimulus rollback last week, investors will watch if inflows from foreign investors would be slower and the rupee maintain its strength against the dollar.

Volatility may heighten ahead of the December series futures and options expiry on Thursday. Financial markets will be shut on Wednesday, on account of Christmas.

Stocks rose on Friday, capping the best week for major indexes in months as unexpectedly strong data on economic growth increased confidence that the recovery was accelerating.

Gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 4.1%i n the third quarter, the fastest pace in almost two years, and exceeding the 3.6% pace reported earlier this month. Business spending was also stronger than previously estimated.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 42.06 points, or 0.26%, to end at 16,221.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 8.71 points, or 0.48%, to finish at 1,818.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 46.61 points, or 1.15%, to close at 4,104.74.

Asian stocks inched cautiously higher on Monday encouraged by record highs on Wall Street, though anxiety over a credit squeeze in China has weighed on shares there while adding to pressure on emerging market currencies.

There was some relief when China's benchmark short-term money rate opened sharply lower at 5.57%, which was enough to help Shanghai edge up 0.15%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.5%.

Back home, the rupee is trading at 61.97 per dollar vs Friday's close of 62.04/05.

On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, Realty, Oil & Gas, Metal, Power, Auto, Healthcare and Bankex indices have surged by 1% each. Infact, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in positive zone.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include Hindalco, L&T, Hero Moto, Tata Motors, Wipro, JSPL, BHEL, RIL and ICICI Bank.

On the losing side, Infosys, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki, M&M and HUL have declined between 0.3-1%.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up by nearly 1% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 751 shares advancing and 204 shares declining.