Sensex, Nifty Marginally Lower In Early Trade

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened on a flat note on Thursday after a strong rally the previous day. U.S. stocks rose for the third straight session overnight and other Asian markets were mostly higher this morning, helping cap losses.

Oil extended gains in Asian deals after a 4 percent rally overnight while the dollar edged lower in thin pre-holiday trade.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 11 points or 0.04 percent at 25,839 while the broader Nifty index was down 2 points or 0.03 percent at 7,864.

Commodity-related stocks led the gains, with Coal India, ONGC, Vedanta and Cairn India rising 1-2 percent. On the flip side, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and PNB lost about 1 percent each.

Top banks SBI and ICICI Bank were narrowly mixed. The risks for business of scheduled commercial banks in the country increased during the first half of the current fiscal due to deterioration of asset quality, the RBI said in its latest Financial Stability Report.

Idea Cellular was marginally lower after launching high-speed 4G services across South India.

Reliance Infrastructure rose 1.2 percent on reports it is close to selling its cement business for Rs 2,600 crore.

Tech Mahindra gained half a percent. The country's fifth largest information technology firm has launched an electronic wallet called MoboMoney.

Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 1.2 percent. The utility vehicles major plans to launch a premium pickup range under the brand name Imperio next month.

Sun Pharma shares rose half a percent. Sun Pharma Laboratories, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has raised Rs 1,000 crore trough non-convertible debentures.

Lupin added 0.7 percent. The drug major has received final approval from the U.S. FDA for its Potassium Chloride capsules.

The benchmark indexes BSE Sensex and Nifty climbed more than 1 percent each to hit three-week highs yesterday amid positive global cues, a firmer rupee, encouraging current account data and optimism about the progressive nature of the new bankruptcy code.