Nifty regains 5700; Manappuram Finance jumps

The BSE Sensex opened higher on Thursday after four days of relentless selling. Asian shares gained supporting sentiments on the Dalal Street.

The Sensex traded 65 points or 0.34 per cent higher at 18,949, while the broader Nifty advanced 26 points to 5,721 as of 09.20 a.m. The rupee inched up against the dollar at 54.27.

Indian markets have seen a sharp selloff over the last two weeks. The Nifty, closely tracked by analysts, lost over 250 points and is close to its 200 day exponential moving average (DEMA) of 5,670. A break below these levels would open further downsides, market analyst Sarvendra Srivastava said.

The sharp fall in markets has been led by banking stocks. The Bank Nifty has broken its 200 DEMA suggesting further weakness.

TS Harihar of ICICI Securities said it is difficult to take a call on this market.

"There is a lot of fundamental weakness in the market. 30 per cent stocks are fundamentally good, but expensive, while the remaining 70 per cent have their own set of problems including a lot of debt," Mr Harihar said.

Market volatility is rising gradually, suggesting further cracks in markets, he added.

Stocks:

Auto stocks underperformed, with Tata Motors leading the declines. Tata Motors was the top Nifty loser, falling nearly 3 per cent. Utility vehicle maker M&M was down 0.5 per cent.

Beaten down stocks witnessed buying interest in early trade today. Bharti Airtel, India's biggest mobile carrier surged over 3 per cent after falling 10 per cent in the last five days.

Private lender ICICI Bank and realty major DLF also saw buying interest.

Manappuram Finance shares were up 6 per cent after falling 30 per cent over the last week.

Global cues:

A pick-up in China's manufacturing sector and a commitment by the U.S. Federal Reserve to maintain an accommodative monetary stance supported Asian stocks.