Live Market Updates: BSE Sensex opens in green; Bharti Airtel up 3%

The benchmark index BSE Sensex opened in green today following positive global cues. The US Federal Reserve yesterday maintained its commitment to a very accommodative monetary stance and the wrangling market nerves calmed on the back of Cyprus rejecting the terms of the European Union bailout.

The Sensex was up 87.12 points or 0.46 percent at 18971.31, and the Nifty was up 29.55 points or 0.52 percent at 5723.95. The breadth of the market was positive. About 872 shares have advanced, 694 shares declined, and 1985 shares are unchanged. Live quotes

Selective buying was seen in metal and banking stocks. Auto stocks continue their downward journey on worries of slowdown in sales.

Top gainers in the Sensex were beaten down stocks like Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Tata Power. Full list

Tata Motors was the top loser in the Sensex followed by Mahindra and Mahindra, ONGC, ITC and Hero Motocorp. Full list

Buzzing Stocks

SAIL will remain in focus today. The government will divest 5.82 percent stake which will be offloaded via offer-for-sale (OFS) issue tomorrow. The EGoM, headed by finance minister P. Chidambaram will decide the floor price of OFS today. The stock was down 1 percent.

HDIL hit a fresh 52-week low in morning trade. The stock was down 2% amid high volumes. The realty major cracked more than 20% in yesterday’s trade on concerns of downgrade by rating agency CARE. Over 1.8 crore shares were delivered on both exchanges.

Manappuram General Finance shed its early morning gains after the company's management guided an under-recovery of Rs 250 crore in the fourth quarter of financial year 2013. I. Unnikrishnan, executive director, told CNBC-TV18 "We expect a loss of Rs 50 crore in the fourth quarter." Full Interview

The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) cleared Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL) KG-D6 block and gas discovery area NEC-25 along with 3 other areas. The stock was trading flat.

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Global Cues Positive

US stocks added to gains after the Federal Reserve said it was pressing forward with aggressive efforts to stimulate the economy. Asian shares inched higher and the dollar was underpinned on Thursday. Live Quotes

Indian Rupee flat

The Indian rupee opened almost flat at 54.29 per dollar against the Wednesday's close of 54.36.

The euro strengthened from a four- month low against the dollar as Cyprus sought alternatives to the European Union plan to help the nation avoid a banking collapse and the Federal Reserve maintained stimulus measures. The dollar index slipped below the 83 mark. Full Article

(With inputs from Reuters)