Indian shares opened higher on Monday led by buying in software makers after better-than-expected results by Infosys on Friday.
BSE-Bankex traded cautious ahead of key Inflation data scheduled later today which is likely to decide the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy stance on January 29.
Moreover, key Tata Consultancy Services results scheduled later today will also keep markets on toes. Other results to watch out for are Axis Bank on January 15 and Bajaj Auto on January 16.
The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 25.45 points and opened at 19,689.09 and the 50-share Nifty gained 15.90 points at 5,967.20 in opening trades.
Asian markets traded mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.66% to 23,418, Taiwan's Weighted index fell 0.6% to 7,868, Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.4% to 3,203 . China's Shanghai Composite jumped 1.8% to 2,284 while Japan's Nikkei was shut today.
Back home, barring banks, IT, technology, consumer durables indexes, all sectoral indices gained on BSE.
Among key Sensex stocks, Hero MotoCorp dropped 0.7%, SBI fell 0.4%, ONGC was down 0.6% while Sun Pharma and Cipla fell 0.4% on BSE.
Among gainers, Infosys gained 2%, Wipro and TCS rose 1% while Sterlite Industries and Tata Steel up 0.4% on BSE.
The broader markets was tad up with mid-caps and small-caps rising 0.1% each on BSE.
The market breadth was positive. Out of 749 stocks traded, 447 stocks advanced compared to 265 declines on BSE.
