Advertisement

The stock markets opened firm on Thursday with the benchmark Sensex recovering by over 86 points in early trade on revival of buying by funds amidst short-covering by speculators in heavy-weight stocks.

The BSE-30 share index, Sensex, which had lost over 400 points in the previous two trading sessions, was up by 86.92 points at 12,970.26 in the first five minutes of trading.

Similarly, on the wide-based National Stock Exchange, Nifty, was up by 41.70 points or 0.63 per cent at 3,802.80.

Stock brokers said short-covering in blue-chip stocks by speculators, as today being the last session in March expiry in the derivative, futures and option segment, helped trading sentiments to improve.

Cement stocks like ACC, Grasim Industries and Gujarat Ambuja Cement were back in the positive zone on selective buying, helping the Sensex to recover.

Other gainers were Reliance Industries, Reliance Capital, Infosys Technologies, TCS, Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, ITC Ltd, Dr Reddy's Lab, Ranbaxy and HDFC Ltd.