Opening bell: Opening Bell: Benchmark indices open marginally higher; Sun Pharma and Asian Paints emerge as top Sensex gainers

Investors remain cautious over the rising interest rates by central banks to overcome high levels of inflation. In the pre-opening session, Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 7 points, or 0.05%, higher at the 15,322.50 level, indicating a flat start for Dalal Street on Monday.

On the global front, US markets ended mixed tracking gains in technology stocks on concerns about the economic impact of aggressive monetary policy tightening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 38.29 points, or 0.13%, to 29,888.78 level while S&P 500 gained 8.07 points, or 0.22%, at 3,674.84 level and the Nasdaq Composite rose 152.25 points, or 1.43%, at 10,798.35. On the other hand, in the early trade on Monday, the oil prices jiggled due to investors’ focus on tight supplies. The sentiment was still cautious after a 6% drop in the previous session due to concerns about sluggish global economic growth and fuel demand. 

At the open, the Sensex was up 136.56 points or 0.27% at 51,496.98 level, and the Nifty advanced 32.80 points or 0.21% at 15326.30 level. The top Sensex gainers comprised Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Asian Paints, HUL, HDFC Bank and HDFC.

At 9.40 a.m., the broader markets were seen underperforming with BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices losing 1.19% and 1.72%, respectively. Despite the bearish trend, the top three mid-cap stocks in the BSE Midcap Index comprised United Breweries, Ashok Leyland and Jubilant FoodWorks whereas the top three small cap stocks were Punjab Chemicals, Apar Industries and Muthoot Finance.

On the sectoral front, indices traded lower with the majority of the indices declining more than 1%. The BSE Metal Index lost its shine plunging beyond 4% in the initial hour of the trading session. Vedanta, Jindal Steel and Nalco were the top stocks weighing the index down, dropping up to 7.93%.