Nifty hits 8700, Sensex opens higher; Axis Bank up

The market on Monday opened higher with the Nifty trading at a 52-week high with the index up 26.95 points or 0.3 percent at 8710.10.

On the other hand, the Sensex traded up 113.53 points or 0.4 percent at 28191.88.

With 409 shares advancing, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, Adani Ports and Maruti were among the top gainers while Infosys, GAIL, TCS and Bharti Airtel were amongst the losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened lower by eight paise at 66.85 per dollar on Monday versus previous close 66.77.

Dollar gained ground versus the yen amid the bigger-than-estimated increase in American payrolls.

As per the analysts, the rupee will trade with a positive bias as far as it trades above 67/dollar. It will get steam from positive domestic cues to head towards 66.50/dollar.

Also, the Natural gas price paid to producers like state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Reliance Industries is likely to fall 20 percent to USD 2.45 in October.

This will be the fourth reduction in the last 18 months following the formula approved by the government in October 2014.

The prices of natural gas produced from existing fields of ONGC and RIL is likely to fall to USD 2.45 per million British thermal unit with effect from October 1 as opposed to USD 3.06 currently.