Sensex opens with gains, Nifty trades positive too

The Sensex today opened strong,

taking a cue from the GST Council offering relief to exporters

and SMEs.

The Council last week made some sweeping changes to give

relief to small and medium businesses. It also slashed tax

rates on more than two dozen items.

Asian markets traded both ways.

The 30-share index rose 67.10 points, or 0.21 per cent,

to 31,881.32. The gauge had soared 222 points in the previous

session on Friday.

Sectoral indices took strength from consumer durables,

FMCG, healthcare and auto stocks, trading higher by up to 2.12

per cent.

The NSE index Nifty too edged higher by 10.10 points, or

0.10 per cent, to 9,989.80.

Besides, domestic institutional investors pumped in funds

unabated.

The big gainers that supported the key indices include

Tata Steel, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Coal India, rising by

up to 1.63 per cent.

Shanghai Composite was up 1.18 per cent while Hong Kong's

Hang Seng shed 0.31 per cent in early deals. Japanese

financial markets are shut today for a pubic holiday.

US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended marginally lower by

0.01 per cent on Friday.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)