Markets trade sideways with the Sensex up 102 points at 17,287 and the Nifty gained 32 points at 5,248.
The broader markets continue to remain in line with the Sensex up 0.6% each.
The rupee strengthened by 13 paise to trade at 55.35 against the dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange, as the American currency weakened against other currencies overseas.
CRISIL Ltd was trading lower by 2.3% at Rs 1,005 after the company posted a minor decline in net profit at Rs 43.7 crore for the quarter ended June 2012 as against Rs 44.4 crore in the same period a year ago.
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(Updated at 9:45am)
Markets opened on a strong note tracking firm global cues as U.S. bellwethers posted strong corporate profits negating worrying signs of the economy cooling. The Sensex opened up 124 points at 17,309 and the Nifty added 41 points at 5,257.
The midcap and the smallcap indices opened in line with the Sensex up 0.5% each.
Overnight, the S&P 500 surged 0.7% to touch its highest level since early May on Wednesday as corporate profits from bellwethers Intel and Honeywell defied fears of a collapse in earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average ended 0.8% higher.
Asian shares rose as strong corporate profits from U.S. bellwethers allayed fears of a slowdown in earnings, particularly for the beleaguered tech sector, while the euro steadied after overnight weakness.Japan's Nikkei was up 0.7%, although market players warned that appreciation in the yen could limit gains. Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Kospi Composite and Taiwan Weighted gained 15 each.
Back home, the Nifty is likely to seek support around 5,195-5,180, technical analysts say, while it is expected to face resistance around 5,235 – 5,250 levels.
All the sectoral indices opened in the green. Metal, Power, Capital Goods and Realty indices up 1% each were the top gainers.
However, Auto index opened flat with a positive bias weighed down by Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto down 5% and 0.7% respectively. Maruti Suzuki slipped after the violence erupted at its Manesar plant forcing stoppage of work.
Sterlite, BHEL,Tata Power, Cipla, Tata Motors, Gail India, Infosys, ICICI Bank and SBI up 1% each were the top gainers in the opening trades.
Major telecom stocks opened in the red as the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom deferred a decision, till later this week, on the contentious issue of a reserve price for the re-auction of 2G spectrum. Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Tata Comm were down 0.2-1%. However, Reliance Communications was up 0.4%
Among other stocks, Steelcast Ltd was trading higher over 3% higher at Rs 220 today after the company reported a 20.41% rise in net profit to Rs 2.95 crore for the quarter ended June 30.
The market breadth was very positive.851 stocks advanced while 221 stocks declined on the BSE.
