Opening Bell: Markets open higher amid positive global cues; Nifty above 17,850, Sensex adds 100 points

Tracking Asian markets, the Indian benchmark indices opened on a positive note on Wednesday. The barometer indices started higher by around 0.15% amid positive global cues and consistent buying from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in August. FIIs bought shares to the tune of Rs 1,376.84 crore in the Indian market on August 16, taking the net buying to Rs 16,218.50 crore in the cash market this month so far.  

Meanwhile, the Nifty50 started near 15,900 and the Sensex gained around 100 points. The two indices opened at 17,868.15 and 59,938.05 respectively on Wednesday.  

In the broader market, Nifty Midcap and Smallcap were seen trading higher by 0.40% each in early trade.  

Sectorally, Nifty Financial services, IT and Auto witnessed some selling pressure in the opening trade, while others sat in the green. Nifty PSU Bank and Pharma were top gainers among sectoral indices.  

In the pre-open, the Sensex gained 100 points as 20 stocks advanced, nine declined and one remained neutral on the 30-share Sensex around 9.10 am.  

Though Nifty paused on Tuesday at 17835, we are not convinced that the 50-share index has topped out, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. 

"This encourages us to continue riding the 18200 views, but with VIX slipping, trading ranges are indeed shrinking. Downside markers may continue to remain near 17660/690, with 17900vicinity likely to pose an intraday challenge," he added. 

"Experts disagreed on whether the ongoing rally is a bear market rally or the beginning of yet another bull market. The majority who believed that this is a bear market rally has been decisively proven wrong by the ferocity of the rally, which has taken the Nifty to a mere 4.3% away from the all-time high," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.  

It is important to appreciate the fact that there is global support to this rally with S&P 500 and Nasdaq bouncing back by 18 and 24% from their June lows respectively, he underlined. 

Earlier, the SGX Nifty was trading higher by around 50 points on the Singaporean exchange on Wednesday morning. Similarly, Japanese Nikkei 225 rose one per cent, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange gained 0.22% and Chinese Shanghai Composite traded flat in early trade.