Nifty Opens Higher, Asian Markets Trade Weak

Benchmark indices opened the day higher after Monday's carnage following a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases and following a curfew or a total lockdown in many parts of the country.

The Nifty was trading with gains of 136 points, while the Sensex gained 450 points in early trade.

Shares in rating agency CRISIL gained ground the company said that the Profit after tax for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, was Rs 83.5 crore, compared with Rs 88.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

ACC saw its shares rally almost 4 per cent after the company reported 74% higher consolidated profit at Rs 563 crore for the first quarter of the calendar year against Rs 323 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

Among the major gainers from the Nifty were Dr Reddy's and Adani Ports, while the losers from the space were some of the FMCG stocks like HUL and Britannia Industries.

Banking stocks, which saw some selling pressure on Monday recovered and were trading with gains. The Bank Nifty was up by more than 1% in trade.

Fear of harsher restrictions and more economic pain amid record surge in Covid-19 cases is likely to keep markets volatile.

Meanwhile, most of Asia was trading with losses led by the Japanese Nikkei which dropped 572 points.