The Indian markets opened on a positive note Wednesday as trading resumed after a holiday for Sri Rama Navami. Asian stocks are trading mostly higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street where the major indexes broke a three-day losing streak despite rising geopolitical tensions in eastern Ukraine.
Japanese shares bucked the uptrend in the region, with the Nikkei average tumbling nearly 2 percent on the back of a stronger yen after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said there was no need for additional stimulus to offset the impact of the sales tax hike.
Closer home, the benchmark 30-share S&P BSE Sensex is currently up 88 points or 0.39 percent at 22,431, with 22 of its components advancing.
Realty, metal, banking and healthcare stocks are gaining ground, while IT stocks are coming under selling pressure amid the strength in rupee, which opened higher by 13 paise at 59.98 per dollar today. Infosys is down half a percent, TCS is declining 0.6 percent and Wipro is down 0.3 percent.
The broader CNX Nifty index is at 6,720, up 25 points or 0.37 percent from its previous close.
Tata Steel is rising 1.5 percent after Steel & Tube Holdings of New Zealand agreed to acquire its unit Tata Steel International-Australasia for NZ$ 27.5 million (Rs 141 crore).
Suzlon Energy is climbing 6 percent. The wind turbine manufacturer disposed of its Big Sky wind farm in Illinois to EverPower Wind Holdings to help cut its debt pile.
Ramco Systems is adding 1.1 percent. Schneider Electric has entered into a strategic partnership with the company to offer advanced process control optimization solution for cement customers.
JSW Steel is moving up 0.6 percent on a report that Coal India has agreed to let the company use rail infrastructure of its arm CCL. Also, JSW Steel announced that it bought a 26 percent stake in Vallabh Tinplate.
Jaihind Projects is locked at the 5 percent upper circuit limit on bagging an EPC order worth Rs 114.8 crore from Indian Oil Corporation. ABB India is up 0.8 percent on winning an $18 million contract from Power Grid Corporation of India.
Maruti Suzuki India is losing 0.4 percent on reports it is recalling over 1 lakh units of the new Swift DZire compact sedan to replace a faulty fuel tank component.
The Indian markets ended mixed showing little change on Monday as India's parliamentary elections got underway, with polls beginning in six parliamentary constituencies in the northeastern states of Assam and Tripura.
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