Opening Bell: Nifty, Sensex open 0.5% higher; banking shares shine

The Indian markets started on a positive note on Tuesday amid positive global cues. Domestic equity benchmarks S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50 opened at 57,751.21 and 17,177.60 respectively as both headline indices gained half a per cent each in the opening trade  

The 12-share Bank Nifty opened at 35,308.30 only to correct by about 70 points to 35,246.50 

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Top gainers on the two indices were ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Grasim, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Powergrid and Infosys. Similarly, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Hero Motorcorp were the main laggards on otherwise a positive day for the Indian market.  

In the pre-open, the Sensex opened over 300 points higher to 57,751.21 as 27 shares advanced, 1 declined and two remained neutral on Tuesday.  

Meanwhile, SGX Nifty Futures hinted at positive opening for the Indian markets as the index traded over 90 points or 0.54% to 17,198.50 on the Singaporean Exchange around 9.10 am.  

Benchmark Indices are expected to open on a positive note as suggested by trends on SGX Nifty, said Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities, ahead of the market open. "On Monday, both US and European markets closed in the green and the majority of the Asian markets were trading in green in the early Tuesday trade. So, the global set up is positive for Indian markets today and we believe if Nifty sustains well above 17200 levels today, we can easily witness 17500 levels in near term," said Nigam 

He said Supriya Life science IPO will list on bourses today. "Some stock specific actions can be witnessed in stocks such as Mahindra Logistics (Deal to acquire Meru), MOIL (Plans to buy back up to 3.38 crore shares at Rs 205), Ajanta Pharma (consider a proposal for buyback of its shares)," added Nigam. 

Asian indices Hang Seng Index was trading 51 points higher, Japanese Nikkei 225 gained 293 points and Shanghai Composite was trading 5 points higher at 7.20 am on Tuesday morning 

Earlier on Monday, the Wall Street indices ended in the green yet another day as Dow Jones added 351 points, Nasdaq Composite gained 218 points, S&P 500 settled 65 points higher and Russell 2000 gained 20 points in Monday's closing.