Equities opened on a firm note on the major Indian bourses today, following positive global sentiment ahead of January F&O expiry series.

Realty and banking stocks were among the most prominent gainers during the early trade. Metal, auto, capital goods and IT stocks have also recorded sharp gains.

Buying remained stock specific in FMCG and pharma stocks, while power and oil stocks remained subdued.

A fair amount of buying was witnessed at several counters in midcap and smallcap segments. BSE Midcap and Smallcap index surged 1.15% and 0.92% respectively.

Asian stocks advanced, led by banking institutions and metals manufacturers, on speculation that lower interest rates and US stimulus measures will alleviate the worldwide financial crisis and enhance the region’s exports.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex, today (Jan 29) belled the day after posting a gain of 77 points at 9,334.47. On Jan 28 (Wednesday), the Sensex closed the day on a positive note after gaining 253.39 points (2.81%).

At 10:26 a.m., the BSE Sensex, which touched a high of 9379.68, gained 92.29 points at 9,349.76.

Meanwhile the broad based Nifty was up marginally at 2850.65 after hitting a high of 2,873.85.

The overall breadth of the stock market was strong.

Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, DLF, Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, ACC, Grasim Industries, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Sterlite Industries and Infosys Technologies.

On the other hand, BHEL, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Cairn India, GAIL India, Reliance Petroleum, Zee Entertainment, Idea Cellular and Wipro were the major losers with sharp to moderate losses.

On Wednesday (Jan 28), the government cut the price of petrol by Rs 5 a liter, diesel by Rs 2 a liter and cooking gas by Rs 25 per 14.2 kg cylinder, effective from midnight. This is the second cut in less than two months.

Technical Analyst, Vishwas Agarwal said that BSE 9,350 is key level to maintain for safe trading zone. Below this level, the stock market will be in a confused and a volatile state.

He added, “More short covering in frontline stock will be seen and 9,555 will be the next target level. Thursday will be the last of expiry which will lead to high degree of volatility in the closing session.”

Mr. Agarwal sai, “Reliance and SBI will lead the market towards either direction as both are dominating stocks in existing markets. Follow these stocks to catch the trend of the market. Current upward move is due to short covering. We should not expect a big run up,”