Sensex gains 24 points on positive Asian cues

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose around 24 points in opening trade today as investors made selective buying in blue chip stocks amid a better trend in other Asian bourses.
The 30-share index, which had lost 119.01 points in the previous session, recovered 23.86 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 26,783.09, with metal, capital goods, FMCG, PSU, banking and oil&gas stocks leading the recovery.
The NSE Nifty also rose by 19.20 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 8,263.
Brokers said, besides a better trend at other Asian bourses which were tracking a strong lead from New York where two of the three main indexes closed at record high on Friday, selective buying by domestic institutional investors and retail investors influenced the sentiment.

Meanwhile, the country's GDP growth is estimated to slow down to 7.1 per cent in the current fiscal, from 7.6 per cent in 2015-16, mainly due to slump in manufacturing, mining and construction sectors, the government data released on Friday showed, without factoring in 'volatile' post-demonetisation figures.
Among other Asian markets, Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.26 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.02 per cent. Japanese financial markets are closed today for a public holiday.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.32 per cent higher in Friday's trade.