MUMBAI: Benchmarks began trade on the first day of the calendar year on a positive note and were comfortably placed above psychological resistance levels. All the sectoral indices were in the green with metals, auto and realty leading the upmove.

“We expect the Indian Markets to open on a mildly positive note and could march upwards gradually during the day. Among the sectoral indices, Metals, Power
and midcaps could outperform,” said HDFC Securities report.

At 9:40 am; National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 6177, up 42.50 points or 0.69 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 6178.55 and low of 6166.65 intraday.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 20651.38, up 142.29 points or 0.69 per cent. The 30-share index touched a high of 20664.80 and low of 20618.32 in trade so far.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.99 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index rose 1.16 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index gained 1.44 per cent, BSE Auto Index moved 1.36 per cent higher and BSE Bankex advanced 1.15 per cent.

Tata Steel (2.23%), M&M (2.14%), Sterlite Industries (2.04%), Reliance Infrastructure (1.74%) and Maruti (1.72%) were amongst the top Nifty gainers.

Bharti Airtel (-0.77%) and BHEL (-0.42%) were the only losers.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1343 advances as compared to 276 declines.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets also moved higher. Taiwan Weighted was up 0.61 per cent, Seoul Composite gained 0.70 per cent and Hang Seng advanced 1.48 per cent.