Mumbai, July 3 (IANS) The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Thursday amid positive global cues, as buying was seen in the IT, pharma and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.25 am, Sensex was trading 68.28 points or 0.08 per cent up at 83,477.97 while the Nifty added 19.30 points or 0.08 per cent at 25,472.70.

Analysts said they are only consolidating the bullish rectangle breakout and as long as the 25,200-25,270 area is protected, bulls are merely taking a breather.

“Under 25,200, we risk 25,000. On the upside, the recent swing high at 25,670 is where the bullish trigger lies,” said Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities.

With the deadline for the US tariff pause expiring next week, it will be interesting to see if the current optimism globally holds up.

“Today is weekly derivatives expiry, so higher than usual volatility may be seen,” he added.

Nifty Bank was down 9.90 points or 0.02 per cent at 56,989.30 in early trade.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 59,645.25 after declining 22 points or 0.04 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,969.35 after declining 7.75 points or 0.04 per cent.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, BEL, Titan, Axis Bank, NTPC, SBI, HCL Tech and ITC were the top losers.

On the other hand, Eternal (earlier Zomato), Asian Paints, M&M, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank were the top gainers.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling on July 2 as they sold equities worth Rs 1,561.62 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued their buying as they bought equities worth Rs 3,036.68 crore on the same day.

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

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 44,484.42, down 10.52 points, or 0.02 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a gain of 29.41 points, or 0.47 per cent at 6,227.42 and the Nasdaq closed at 20,393.13, up 190.24 points, or 0.94 per cent.

Analysts said that the US-Vietnam trade deal indicates the eagerness of the US administration to strike as many trade deals as possible since deals with EU and Japan appear unlikely soon.

–IANS

skt/na