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Markets opened higher on Tuesday, amid firm Asian cues, led by financials and index heavyweight Reliance Industries.
At 9:16AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 52 points at 20,840 and the 50-share Nifty was up 18 points at 6,209.
Markets are likely to remain range bound ahead of the November industrial production data on Friday.
Investors are also awaiting the minutes of the Fed's December meeting, due on Thursday, for insights on the voting members' stance on the bond-buying programme, known as quantitative easing (QE).
US stocks slipped on Monday after a mixed batch of economic reports, which showed a slowdown in growth in the US services sector and a rebound in new orders for factory goods.
Two measures of activity in the services sector indicated slower growth in December, indicating the economic recovery remains modest, while a separate report showed factory orders rose as expected in November.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 44.89 points or 0.27%, to end at 16,425.10. The S&P 500 lost 4.60 points or 0.25%, to finish at 1,826.77. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 18.22 points or 0.44%, to close at 4,113.68.
Asian shares stabilised on Tuesday after four straight days of losses, while the dollar rebounded from overnight weakness after disappointing U.S. services sector data raised concerns about stuttering growth in the world's largest economy.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, and not far from a three-week low touched on Monday.
In the financials space ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC were among the top Sensex gainers.
Reliance Industries was up 0.5% on reports that the company may increase gas output from the KG-D6 basin.
Other gainers include, L&T, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors
In the broader market the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up over 0.5% each.
Market breadth was positive with 761 gainers and 146 losers on the BSE.
