Makets open higher in response to global cues

As mentioned in our morning update, the Indian markets have opened on a positive note in line with global cues. The BSE Sensex opened higher by 270 points at 15799 and the Nifty opened higher by 78 points at 4715.

Other major Asian markets are also seen trading in the green zone, following a pick up in China's manufacturing activity that boosted investor sentiment across the region.

The European markets ended in the green zone on the first day of Jan 2012, hitting a 2-month high.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Metals, Realty, Consumer Goods and Bankex are leading with gains between 2%-2.5%. All the other indices are trading with gains between 1%-1.7% each.

Of the Sensex shares, Coal India continued to lead the trade with gains of 4% after the announcement that it has commenced with a new coal price regime effective from Jan 2, 2012 onwards. The other gainers are Bharti Artel, BHEL, Cipla, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ONGC, Infosys, ICICI Bank, L&T, TCS, SBI, DLF and JP Associates, all up between 1.5%-3% each. On the other hand, M& M remains the top loser and is down by 2%.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is strong. On the BSE, 1335 shares rose and 376 shares fell. 59 shares remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain positive for the day and the European markets to provide some vital cues on the desired direction of the market trend in the late afternoon session.