Sensex, Nifty Edge Higher Amid Broad Gains

BSE Sensex and Nifty inched higher today in early trade, with broad-based gains seen across different sectors. Higher rupee and positive global markets boosted the sentiment but profit-taking at higher levels capped the gains.

Market analyst Sarvendra Srivastava said 7,754 remains an immediate resistance level for Nifty and some profit-taking was emerging at the 7700-7750 zone.

Market analyst Sanjeev Bhasin expects the positive trend in the market to continue ahead of the budget. "The Nifty has closed above 7,700 for two straight days, which technically indicates further bullishness in stock markets," he said.

Gains in healthcare, power and auto stocks were offset by profit-taking in capital gains and metal stocks that outperformed in recent sessions.

Among the pharma stocks, Lupin and Dr Reddy's were up over 1 per cent. Bharti Airtel rose 1.5 per cent after the Reserve Bank of India hiked the FII limit to 74 per cent. Among the metal stocks, Sesa Sterlite fell nearly 1 per cent.

At 9:50 a.m., the Sensex was up 48 points at 25,870 while Nifty rose 14 points to 7,729. The midcap and smallcap indices continued to outperform the frontline stocks. The BSE sub-indices for midcap and smallcap stocks were up nearly 0.3 per cent.

In other global markets, Asian shares firmed on Friday, catching a lift from U.S. stocks' surge to record highs after U.S. jobs data showed the lowest unemployment rate in six years and underscored the strength of the economic recovery.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 per cent in early trade, close to this week's three-year highs, while Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.9 per cent.

Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average passed the 17,000 milestone and the benchmark S&P 500 rose to within 1 per cent of the 2,000 level. (With Agency Inputs)