Key Indian equity indices move up after weak opening

Key Indian equities indices opened a tad lower on Thursday as the investor mood was cautions ahead of the expiry of derivatives contracts for November but soon rose in line with global cues, notably from the Asian and European peers.

Against the previous close at 25,775.74 points, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Sock Exchange (BSE) opened a tad lower at 25,769.81 points. Immediately thereafter, the index saw a spike and was ruling at 25,852.03 points, with a gain of 76.29 points or 0.30 %.

At the National Stock Exchange, the broader 50-share Nifty opened slightly higher at 7,837.15 points against the previous close at 7,831.60 points. Minutes after the opening bell, the index was ruling at 7,856.90 points, with a gain of 25.30 points, or 0.32 %.

On Tuesday, the Sensex had lost 43.60 points or 0.17 %, while the Nifty was down 18 points or 0.22 %. Wednesday was a trading holiday.

The marginal gain on Thursday was on account of global cues, notably in Asia where investors saw some ease of tension between Moscow and Ankara, following the shooting down of a Russian jet fighter by Turkey, on charges of violation of the latter's airspace.

Japan's Nikkei was up 0.6 % higher, Australia's key index rose 0.7 %, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was higher by 1 %, while China's Shanghai Composite climbed 0.3 %. The European indices gained around 1 %, while some key ones in the US ended flat.

"The European markets rallied on a report that the European Central bank is contemplating expanding its stimulus to boost the economy," said Angel Broking said in a pre-open analysis, even as the Indian markets had closed with marginal losses on Tuesday after some volatile trading.

"US stocks closed flat in a quiet trading session with gains in health care and consumer stocks after data showed that the economy had a modest growth," the broking firm said, adding that the volumes were low, ahead of a holiday on Thursday and truncated trading on Friday.