Markets opening bell: Sensex in green at over 60,000, Nifty rises to 17,911

Equity benchmarks made a positive start to the week on Monday amid a supportive trend in Asian markets and robust foreign fund inflows.

Trading momentum was positive ahead of retail inflation and industrial output data, which will be announced after market hours.

Rising for the third straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 274.07 points to 60,067.21. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty went higher by 79.45 points to 17,910.50.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and ICICI Bank were leading the gainers’ chart.

However, HDFC, Dr Reddy’s, L&T, Asian Paints and Kotak Bank were among the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Japan were trading in the positive zone, while bourses in China and South Korea were closed for holidays. Wall Street had ended with smart gains on Friday.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude slipped 1.38 per cent to USD 91.53 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers to the tune of ₹2,132.42 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.

“The most important bullish factor that has caused and is sustaining India’s market outperformance is the strong growth recovery underway in India now. RBI’s report which puts bank credit growth now running at 15.5 per cent is an endorsement of this fact.

“While financials will continue to be resilient, some sector rotation can be expected at this juncture. The beaten down IT segment may participate in a pullback rally,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.