Benchmark Indices Trade In Narrow Range

The benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex opened on a positive note. The indices were marginally up in the early morning trade. The 30 share Sensex was up by 21.45 points while 50 share Nifty was up by 11 points. The investors are cautious and have made selective buying ahead of CPI and IIP data to be released today. Meanwhile, as per the provisional data by stock exchange, the foreign funds were the net buyers in the Indian equities worth Rs 433.55 crore. The broader market, BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices were also trading marginally in green, up by 0.09% and 0.34% each.

Tracking the momentum of the sectoral indices, BSE Healthcare and Consumer Durable indices were up by 1% each. The rally in the market was led by Asian Paints, which was up by 1.87% as it is expected that sales would boost up during the festive season.  ITC was up by nearly 1%. However, Sun Pharma was down by nearly 3% after USDFA surprise inspection. Hindalco and PowerGrid were seen trading in red, down by 1.76% and 1.38% respectively.

Further a mixed trend was seen in Asian market. Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.10%, China's Shanghai was up by 0.30%. However Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading in red, down by 0.40%.