Mumbai, June 16 (IANS) The Indian equity indices opened in the green on Monday despite rising Mideast tensions, and there was no panic seen during the early trade.

At 9:21 am, Sensex was up 265.05 points or 0.33 per cent at 81,396.52 and Nifty was up 93.40 points or 0.38 per cent at 24,812.

Buying was seen in the midcap and smallcap index. Nifty midcap 100 index was up 65.45 points or 0.11 per cent at 58,292.50 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 17.15 points or 0.09 per cent at 18,391.95.

According to analysts, the uncertainty stemming from the Israel-Iran conflict has created a risk-off in global markets.

“The safe haven buying is keeping gold firm but dollar continues to be weak. Interestingly, there is no panic in equity markets,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

Markets will be severely impacted only if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz triggering a huge spike in crude. This appears to be a low probability event now, he added.

On the sectoral front, IT, fin service, pharma, FMCG, metal, energy, infra and PSE were major gainers. Auto, PSU Bank, metal and realty were major losers.

In the Sensex pack, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, L&T, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, TCS, Infosys, NTPC and Tech Mahindra were major gainers. Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, M&M, SBI and Maruti Suzuki were major losers.

Given the current environment of heightened volatility and uncertainty, traders are advised to maintain a cautious approach — especially with leveraged positions.

“Partial profit-booking on rallies and the use of tight trailing stop-losses is recommended,” said Aakash Shah from Choice Broking.

Asian markets were trading in the mixed zone. Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Jakarta were in the green. Bangkok and Hong Kong were in the red. US market closed in the red on Friday.

From an institutional perspective, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers on June 13, offloading equities worth Rs 1,263 crore. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained supportive, purchasing equities worth Rs 3,041 crore.

The market scenario characterised by sustained retail buying and fund flows into mutual funds will ensure valuations remaining high for an extended period of time. Therefore, long-term investors can use this risk-off scenario to buy relatively attractively valued stocks like financials, said analysts.

–IANS

avs/na