Sensex, Nifty open higher ahead of retail inflation data; Star Cement, Esab India jump up to 7%

Indian equity benchmarks ticked higher in Monday's early trade ahead of retail inflation data for the month of January, scheduled to be released post-market hours. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 107 points or 0.15 per cent to trade at 71,702, and the NSE Nifty was up 43 points or 0.20 per cent to trade at 21,826. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.35 per cent and small-cap shed 0.04 per cent.

BSE 500 stocks such as Star Cement, Esab India, Easy Trip Planners, Birla Corp, Aarti Industries, Godfrey Phillips, ZEE, CreditAccess and Aurobind Pharma jumped up to 7.11 per cent. In contrast, SJVN, Amber Enterprises, Sobha, Midhani, MMTC, Alkem Labs and RCF cracked up to 9.50 per cent.

On the global front, Most Asian markets, including Hong Kong and South Korea, were closed on Monday, while Chinese markets will remain shut for the week. Wall Street equities advanced on Friday.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 141.95 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold Rs 421.87 crore worth of shares, exchange data showed.

Five out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.94 per cent and 0.93 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Oil & Gas slipped 1.26 per cent and 1.13 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, Divi's Labs was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock soared 2.93 per cent to trade at Rs 3,795.95. Wipro, Dr Reddy's, UPL and HCL Tech rose up to 2.15 per cent.

In contrast, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, PowerGrid and BPCL were among the top losers on Nifty50.

The overall market breadth was weak as 1,891 shares were declining while 1,332 were advancing on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Infosys, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, Wipro and Axis Bank were among the top gainers.

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