Markets have started the day on a firm note after witnessing a sharp fall during last few trading sessions led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries and financials. By 9:40am, the Sensex was at 16,645 up 166 pts and the Nifty was at 5,030 up 55 pts.
Overnight, US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as political uncertainty in Greece and the frail state of Spanish banks fueled fears the region's debt crisis would worsen. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down around 0.8%, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.7%.
Asian shares fell for a sixth straight session on Thursday, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipping 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei share average opened down 0.4%, after hitting its lowest in nearly three months the previous day.
Back home, the Nifty is likely to face resistance at 5,025-5,035, while on the downside it would look to seek support around 4,980 - 4,970 levels, analysts say.
On the sectoral front, BSE Realty, Auto, Capital Goods, Metal, PSU, Bankex, Power, Oil & Gas, Healthcare and FMCG indices have surged by almost 1% each. Infact, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in green zone.
Cipla is the top Sensex gainer, up over 2% ahead of the fourth quarter results.
From the Capital Goods segment, BHEL and L&T have gained by nearly 2% each on value buying at lower levels after both shares had witnessed heavy selling pressure in the past few sessions.
Index heavyweight Reliance Inds have surged over 1%. RIL said it signed a $2-billion equivalent loan with nine banks covered by Euler Hermes Deutschland AG earlier this week in Germany.
Bharti Airtel has gained by nearly 1% on reports that the company may buy 26% stake in a Qualcomm venture.
Financials which had also witnessed a sell off during this week rebounded in early trades. ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank have increased between 1-2%.
Auto shares like M&M, Hero Moto, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors have gained between 1-2%.
Other notable gainers include DLF, Tata Steel, Sterlite, NTPC and JSPL.
On the losing side, Infosys is down by nearly 0.5%.
The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices are trading higher, both gaining by nearly 1% each.
Among other shares, Atul Auto has rallied as much as 20% to Rs 163 in opening trades after the company said its board will consider bonus issue and dividend for its equity shareholders.
Shares of GTL group companies such as GTL and GTL Infrastructure have rallied more than 10% each in opening deals on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The overall market breadth remains positive with 1,032 stocks advancing while 385 declining.
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