Mumbai, June 20 (IANS) The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Friday amid positive Asian cues, as buying was seen in the PSU bank, IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.25 am, Sensex was trading 228.15 points or 0.28 per cent up at 81,590.02 while the Nifty added 55.10 point or 0.22 per cent at 24,848.35

Nifty Bank was up 102.35 points or 0.18 per cent at 55,679.80 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 57,143.10 after dropping 16.85 points or 0.03 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,950.60 after declining 62.50 points or 0.35 per cent.

According to analysts, Nifty, which has been trading within the 24,500-25,000 range for about a month now, is likely to remain within this range in the near term. The upper side of the range will be broken only on news of de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict or an abrupt end to the war.

“There is uncertainty on this. The lower side of the range is unlikely to break since big buying, particularly by domestic institutions, will emerge on dips. If the war lingers and crude rises beyond $85 the lower band of the range will be broken,” said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist of Geojit Investments Limited.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement, M&M, Eternal, SBI, Axis Bank and Sun Pharma were the top gainers. Whereas, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank and PowerGrid were the top losers.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their buying on the third consecutive day on June 19 as they bought equities worth Rs 934.62 crore. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also extended their buying as they bought equities of Rs 605.97 crore on the same day.

In the Asian markets, Bangkok, Japan, Seoul, Hong Kong and China were trading in green, while only Jakarta was trading in red.

The US stock market was closed on Thursday in observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day.

In the last trading session on Wednesday, Dow Jones in the US closed at 42,171.66, down 44.14 points, or 0.10 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 1.85 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 5,980.87 and the Nasdaq closed at 19,546.27, up 25.18 points, or 0.13 per cent.

–IANS

skt/na