Markets open flat; IT, FMCG stocks gain

New Delhi: Markets opened in flat zone on Monday amidst positive buying in IT and FMCG stocks, however it posted sharp rally in the next hour.

At 10.16 am, the BSE Sensex zoomed 249.88 points or 0.69 percent at 36,636.49 while the NSE Nifty rose 59.50 points or 0.55 percent to 10,966.45.

Major gainers included Sun Pharma, RIL, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Yes Bank, TCS, HUL, Tata Steel, NTPC, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Asian Paint, Vedanta, ITC, M&M, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC Bank, rising up to 3.02 percent.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 124.91 crore, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares to the tune of Rs 97 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.

The rupee weakened by 26 paise to 71.45 against the US dollar in early trade Monday on increased demand for the American currency from importers amid rising crude prices and foreign fund outflows.

Asian markets kept their nerve on Monday as data showed the Chinese economy slowed at the end of last year, a Reuters report said.

Chinese blue chips gained 0.97 percent. Japan`s Nikkei added 0.5 percent, helped by a recent pullback in the yen. The Australian dollar, often used a liquid proxy for China investments, nudged up to $0.7167.

With Agency Inputs