Indices start higher tracking mixed Asian markets; Sebsex gains 300 pts, Nifty up 0.31% at 25,043

Indian equities tracking mixed Asian markets started Monday's trade higher. Nifty at the start was up 0.31 per cent or 78.45 points at 25,042.7, while the Sensex was up 0.37 per cent or 300.86 points at 81,682.22.

Bank Nifty was up 0.27 per cent, led by gains in HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI. Meanwhile, broader markets also showed resilience and were up up to 0.4 per cent on the Nifty Smallcap 100 index.

Sectorally, amid broad-based buying, metal, IT and realty stocks were the top performers, with the metal stocks outshining as globally metal prices have been soaring there is seen a ripple impact on domestic metal stocks.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "This month, through 11th October, FPIs have sold equity for Rs 58710 crores. (Source: NSDL). This massive selling didn’t have a serious impact on the market since the entire FPI selling has been absorbed by DIIs .This trend of FII selling and DII buying is likely to sustain in the near-term since Chinese stocks continue to be cheap compared to the elevated valuations in India.

Stocks in action 

L&T shares gain up to 2 per cent as JP Morgan initiates its overweight call on the stock.

Also, Avenue Supermarts shares slumped as much as 9 per cent to day's low price of Rs 4,143.6 as there is seen a risk of de-rating on the counter.

Asian markets

Meanwhile, trading volume remains thin amid muted volumes due to a trading holiday in Japan, indices traded mixed. The MSCI Asia ex Japan gain 0.2 per cent higher.