Sensex opens above 25,500; Asian markets firm

The Sensex has opened higher by 210 points at 25,539 mark and the Nifty gained by 57 points at 7,626

Markets have started the trading session on a higher note tracking positive Asian stocks along with auto and realty shares leading the gains.

Experts add that corporate earnings, macroeconomic data and global cues will set the tone for stock markets in a holiday-shortened week ahead.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 503.74 crore on Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

By 9:30, the Sensex was higher by 173 points at 25,500 mark and the Nifty gained by 46 points at 7,614 levels.

On the global front, Asian stocks rose on Monday after Wall Street rallied on an easing of tensions in Ukraine, although conflicts in other geopolitical hotspots such as Iraq limited gains.

Wall Street surged on Friday after Russia said it had finished military exercises in southern Russia, which the United States had criticised as a provocative step amid the Ukraine crisis.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.7% after shedding 0.9% on Friday.

Tokyo's Nikkei rose 1.9%, and also was helped as the yen's sharp rally against the dollar on Friday was reversed. The index had lost 3% on Friday.

Back home, Tata Motors, GAIL (India), HPCL, Steel Authority of India (Sail), Divi's Laboratories, Eicher Motors, Indian Hotels Company, Jet Airways (India) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, among others, will announce April-June 2014 quarter results today.

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty index has surged by over 3% followed by counters like Auto, Capital Goods, Banks, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, Metal and Healthcare, all gaining by 1% each. Infact, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in green zone.

Realty stocks are in focus after the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Sunday, 10 August 2014 approved a long-pending proposal to introduce real estate investment trusts (REIT).

The main gainers on the Sensex are Tata Motors, M&M, Sesa Sterlite, L&T, Hindalco, Infosys, BHEL, HDFc and Axis Bank.

Among other shares, Adani Enterprises has rallied 5% to Rs 475 in early morning deals on National Stock Exchange (NSE) after reporting a consolidated net profit at Rs 557 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 (Q1FY15), on back of higher sales volume in power business.

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

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,091 shares advancing and 268 shares declining.