Nifty opens above 6,050 mark, global markets firm

The Sensex has opened higher by 51 points at 20,428 mark and the Nifty gained by 14 points at 6,078 levels

Markets have flat after beginning the first trading day of the week on positive note amid strong global cues.

By 9:25, the Sensex was higher by 18 points at 20,394 mark and the Nifty gained by 7 points at 6,070 levels.

US stocks jumped on Friday, giving the S&P 500 its first weekly gain in four as the impact of a weak reading on the labor market was dulled by harsh weather conditions and traders focused on expectations of further economic strength.

Nonfarm payrolls added 113,000 jobs in January - well shy of the forecast for 185,000. December payrolls were revised upward by only 1,000 to 75,000.

The U.S. unemployment rate in January hit a five-year low of 6.6 percent, slightly above the 6.5 percent level that Fed officials have said would prompt them to consider raising benchmark interest rates from near zero.

Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a one-week high on Monday morning, moving further away from a four-month low hit last week as gains on Wall Street and a softer yen underpinned sentiment.

Analysts said that foreign investors including macro funds are cautiously stepping back to buy recently-battered Japanese stocks as they keep an eye on key events this week.

New Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen delivers her first testimony to the House on Tuesday and the senate on Thursday.

In India, investors will closely watch key data including inflation and industrial production for hints on improvement in the economy.

Tata Motors, NMDC, JP Associates, Indraprastha Gas, India Cements, Essar Oil, BGR Energy and Apollo Hospitals will unveil their third quarter earnings today.  

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 267.26 crore on Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty index has surged by over 2% followed by counters like Metal and Auto, all gaining by nearly 1% each. However, sectors like Banks, Capital Goods, Power, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and IT have gained marginally. Apart from FMCG, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in positive zone.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Sesa Sterlite, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Wipro.

DLF has gained by 5% after the company announced the sale of its luxury hospitality chain, Aman Resorts, back to the company's founder, Adrian Zecha, for $358 million. This is a higher valuation than DLF's earlier agreement with Zecha, where it had received a valuation of $300 million, in December 2012.

On the losing side, GAIL, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, HUL and TCS have declined between 0.2-1%.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up between 0.2-0.5%.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 606 shares advancing and 315 shares declining.