Indian indices opened higher today, for the third day this week, as Nifty Bank, auto, FMCG and IT led the morning. In early trade, Nifty was up 0.31% at 23,277 and Sensex up 0.31% at 76,765. 7 out of 12 sectors on NSE were up, with Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil and Gas up the most.
The broader markets underperformed, with MidCap down 0.12% and SmallCap down 0.20%.
ICICI Bank (ICBK), Bharti Airtel (BRTI), Infosys (INFY) and PowerGrid were the top gainers on Nifty 50.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories (REDY), Sun Pharmaceutical (2070) Industries, Apollo Hospitals (APLH) Enterprise, Maruti Suzuki (MRTI), Kotak Mahindra Bank (KTKM) were the losers.
According to market experts, the US market strength with S&P 500 at an all time high and 10 year US bond yield at 4.65% will continue to impact the Indian market.
With IT results and management commentary indicating sector will do better, the sector is safe now, they said.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty Oil and Gas was the top gainer, up 1%, followed by Nifty Metal and Realty, up 0.9% and 0.6% respectively. Nifty Pharma was the top loser, down 1.6%.
According to market experts, after a positive opening, Nifty can find support at 23,100 then 23,000 and 22,800. On the higher side, 23,300 will be immediate resistance, then 23,400 and 23,500.
FIIs were net sellers for the 15th day in a row as they sold equities worth Rs 5,462.52 crore on Jan 23. Domestic institutions bought equities worth Rs 3,712 crore on the same day.
Given the volatility, traders are advised to be cautious, use strict stop loss and not to carry longs overnight unless Nifty stays above 23,500, said Hardik Matalia from Choice Broking.
Meanwhile, the rupee opened 14 paise higher at 86.33 per dollar on Friday.
