Markets open marginally higher, Nifty near 11,500

New Delhi: Markets opened marginally higher on Wednesday. The BSE benchmark Sensex 31 points in early trade led by gains in index-heavyweight banking stocks amid persistent foreign fund inflow.

The BSE Sensex rose 30.84 points or 0.08 percent to 38,874.72 in early trade while the NSE Nifty edged higher by 26.60 points or 0.23 percent to 11,498.85.

Major gainers in the Sensex pack were Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserve, M&M, Axis Bank, Powergrid, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Kotak Bank and Titan, rising upto 3.84 percent. On the other hand major losers were Bharti Airtel, Asian Paint, RIL, HDFC, SBI, Tech Mahindra, Ultrachem, HCL Tech, LT, HDFC Bank, HUL and Nestle, falling upto 1.96 percent.

Asian stocks eased from a two-year high on Wednesday. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.1% after hitting its highest since mid-2018 on Tuesday. Japan`s Nikkei was off 0.1%, a Reuters report said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.24 per cent higher at USD 46.40 per barrel.

In the previous session, the Sensex closed 44.80 points or 0.12 per cent higher at 38,843.88, and Nifty inched up 5.80 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 11,472.25.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,481.20 crore on a net basis on Tuesday.