Mumbai, March 18 (IANS) The domestic benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday amid positive global cues, as buying was seen in the realty and media sectors in the early trade.At around 9.27 am, Sensex was trading 448.91 points or 0.61 per cent up at 74,618.86 while the Nifty added 140.15 points or 0.62 per cent at 22,648.90.
Nifty Bank was up 407.25 points or 0.84 per cent at 48,761.40 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 48,794.85 after adding 333.05 points or 0.69 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 15,110.95 after climbing 142.55 points or 0.95 per cent.
According to market watchers, after a positive opening, Nifty can find support at 22,450, followed by 22,350 and 22,300. On the higher side, 22,700 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,750 and 22,800.
“Despite the positive market performance, a cautious sentiment prevailed due to escalating trade war tensions following new tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. This geopolitical uncertainty tempered overall market optimism," said Vikram Kasat from PL Capital-Prabhudas Lilladher.
Meanwhile, In the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank (NSE:ICBK), M&M (NSE:MAHM), Axis Bank (NSE:AXBK), Tata Steel (NSE:TISC), Tata Motors (NSE:TAMO), Bajaj Finserv (NSE:BJFS), Hindustan Unilever (NSE:HLL) Limited and Zomato (NSE:ZOMT) were the top gainers. Whereas, HCL Tech (NSE:HCLT), Sun Pharma (NSE:SUN), TCS (NSE:TCS) and Tech Mahindra (NSE:TEML) were the top losers.
In the last trading session, Dow Jones climbed 0.85 per cent to close at 41,841.63. The S&P 500 added 0.64 per cent to 5,675.12 and the Nasdaq added 0.31 per cent to close at 17,808.66.
In the Asian markets, Jakarta was trading in red. Whereas Japan, Seoul and China, and Hong Kong were trading in green.
The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to remain net sellers in the month of March till now, as they sold equities worth Rs 4,488.45 crore on March 17. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) compensated with buying of equities of Rs 6,000.60 crore, on the same day.
--IANS
skt/na