Key indices on Thursday opened marginally higher putting an end to its three-session falling streak amid positive Asian cues. At 10:10 AM, Sensex was up by 53.53 points to trade in green at 33,846.10 points while Nifty was up by 16.45 points to trade at 10,458.45.
Sectoral indices led by infrastructure, capital goods, PSU, realty and metal were leading the recovery, adding up to 0.70 per cent.
Among the major gainers were, Asian Paint, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy’s, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, Axis Bank, SBI, ITC Ltd, HDFC Bank, M&M, NTPC and Reliance Industries, gaining up to 1.38 per cent.
Asian shares flirted with 10-year highs on Thursday as solid economic data from the United States and Germany reinforced investors’ optimism, while oil prices hovered at a 2-1/2-year high with unrest in Iran stoking supply disruption concerns.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat as profit-taking in South Korean shares ahead of major earnings next week offset gains in other markets.
Japan’s Nikkei jumped 2.5 per cent on its first trading day of the year while the broader Topix hit its highest level since 1991.
“The economic data published over the holiday period has been pretty good. So for those who were worried about new year profit-taking, the market would look pretty strong,” said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
The economic data published on Wednesday on both sides of the Atlantic reinforced investors’ expectations that solid global growth will boost demand of goods, including oil, and lift corporate earnings.