Opening Bell: Benchmark indices trade marginally higher; Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance and M&M in focus

On Wednesday, benchmark indices were expected to open on a flat to negative note as indicated by trends on SGX Nifty.

Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 53 points, or 0.33%, lower at the 16,216 level. On Tuesday benchmark indices closed with attractive gains witnessing a rally which was the biggest as compared to the last three months' performance.

On Wednesday morning, Asian stocks were trading mixed cues, despite the strong gains on Wall Street due to weak economic data from China and growing inflationary worries. Wall Street settled higher on Tuesday, boosted by Apple, Tesla and other mega-cap growth stocks post easing of worries about slowing economic growth due to strong retail sales in April.

On Tuesday, after touching seven-week highs, oil prices slipped 2% on reports that the United States could ease some restrictions on Venezuela's government, adding hopes of some additional supplies.

At the open, Sensex was up 230.63 points or 0.42% at 54549.10, and the Nifty was up 66.30 points or 0.41% at 16325.60. India VIX traded 0.82% lower at 22.56 level in the initial hour of the trading session.

Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and UPL were among the major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were ONGC, JSW Steel, Power Grid Corp, NTPC and Tata Steel. Meanwhile, on Sensex, the gainers were Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, M&M, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finserv whereas the losers were NTPC, Powergrid Corporation, Tata Steel, Nestle India and SBIN.

In the broader markets, at 9.45 am BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices traded 0.82% up and 1.05% higher, respectively. On the sectoral front, indices traded flat with power, bank, telecom and IT indices gaining more than 1%. BSE IT Index took the lead as it traded 1.70% higher. The top IT stocks lifting the index comprised Nucleus Software, Datamatics Global Services, Cigniti Technologies, 63 Moons Technologies and Kellton Tech Solutions.