Opening bell: Despite weak global cues, Sensex and Nifty gains in the early morning trade; PSU Bank drops the most

The Indian market opened Monday with marginal gains, following the Asian market. 

In the early going, amid mixed Asian stocks, the important equity barometers are trading with modest gains. Nifty trades were over the 17,400 level. Aside from energy, IT, telecom, oil & gas all other sectors trade in green. In the early going, amid mixed Asian stocks, the important equity barometers are trading with modest gains. Nifty trades were over the 17,400 level. While bank and IT equities fell, demand was high for shares in the auto, metal, and consumer durable industries. 

The S&P BSE Sensex, the barometer index, was up 49.94 points, or 0.09%, to 58,437.87 at 09:28 IST. To reach 17,412.35, the Nifty 50 index increased 14.85 points or 0.08%. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index increased 0.20% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index increased 0.33% in the overall market. 

Market breadth was strong as 964 equities declined and 1,680 climbed on the BSE and 137 shares in total remained unchanged. On a sectoral level, Nifty PSU Bank fell by more than 1%, while Consumer Durables saw the biggest increase, rising by 0.8% in Monday's opening trade. On August 5, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) purchased shares worth Rs 1,605.81 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 495.94 crore. 

With SoftBank expected to release profits after the market close on Monday, Asian stocks were trading in a choppy manner. China released trade figures for July over the weekend, showing an 18% increase in dollar-denominated exports from a year ago. Compared to the same period in 2021, China's dollar-denominated imports rose by 2.3% in July, which was less than the predicted 3.7% increase. On Friday, US markets closed mixed after a strong jobs data dashed previous hopes that the Federal Reserve might scale back its ferocious fight against inflation that has reached decades-high levels.