Sensex trades higher, TCS and Wipro lead gains

Mumbai, Aug 20 : Indian equity benchmarks opened in the green on Tuesday due to positive action in heavyweight tech stocks like TCS and Wipro.

At 9:50 a.m., Sensex was 364 points or 0.44 per cent at 80,774 and Nifty was 108 points or 0.44 per cent at 24,683.

Buying is seen in smallcap and midcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index is up 143 points or 0.25 per cent at 57,903 and Nifty small 100 index is 77 points or 0.41 per cent at 18,829.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, PSU Bank, fin service, realty, infra, service sector, healthcare, energy and pvt bank are major gainers. Media is the only loser in NSE indices.

The market trend is positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,784 shares are in the green and 389 shares in the red.

India Vix is down by 1.68 per cent at 14.08 points, which shows that the market remains stable.

Mixed trading is taking place in Asian markets. Tokyo, Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta are in green. Hong Kong and Shanghai are in red. US markets closed in the green on Monday. Crude oil benchmark Brent crude is at $77 per barrel and WTI crude at $73 per barrel.

Choice broking analyst said: "Global markets are continuously forming higher-high, higher-low formation indicating strength in the markets. Indian markets are also moving higher and can further move towards the next resistance of 24800 levels."

"Traders holding a long position can hold with a trailing stop loss of 24,400 on a closing basis," he added.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their buying as they bought equities worth Rs 2,667 crore on August 19, while domestic institutional investors also bought equities worth Rs 1,802 crore on the same day.