Mumbai, Mar 17: The Indian equity benchmark indices opened higher on Monday amid positive global cues, as buying was seen in the pharma and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.32 am, Sensex was trading 504.88 points or 0.68 per cent up at 74,333.79 while the Nifty added 164.00 points or 0.73 per cent at 22,561.20.

According to market watchers, Sensex continue to resist near the 74,550 zone and witnessing profit booking slipped to lose steam. The index has the crucial near-term support at 73,600 level which needs to be sustained as of now.

“A decisive move past the 75,000 zone is necessary to anticipate for further rise in the coming days. The support for the day is seen at 22,300 levels while the resistance is seen at 22,600 levels," said Vaishali Parekh, Vice President - Technical Research, PL Capital Group.

Meanwhile, Nifty Bank was up 259.95 points or 0.54 per cent at 48,320.35 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 48,308.40 after adding 183.30 points or 0.38 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 14,959.50 after climbing 62.15 points or 0.42 per cent.

The near-term market trend is likely to be stable with a positive bias. The positive factors are the steadily declining trend in FII outflows and the outperformance of India over the US last week, said experts.

This positive trend has fundamental support from the bounce back in FY25 Q3 GDP growth to 6.2 per cent, the spurt in January IIP to 5 per cent and the decline in February CPI inflation to 3.61 per cent, according to experts.

In the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, UltraTech Cement, L&T, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank were the top gainers. Whereas, Infosys, Zomato, HCL Tech, Nestle India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top losers.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones climbed 1.65 per cent to close at 41,488.19. The S&P 500 added 2.13 per cent to 5,638.94 and the Nasdaq added 2.61 per cent to close at 17,754.09.

In the Asian markets, Bangkok and Jakarta were trading in red. Whereas Japan, Seoul and China, and Hong Kong were trading in green.

Regarding institutional activity, foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 792.90 crore on March 13, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 1,723.82 crore on the same day.

(IANS)

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