Opening Bell: Market opens higher for sixth session, Sensex up over 100 points

Indian shares extended gains for the sixth straight session on Thursday, tracking gains in Asian peers, even as investors eye the August retail inflation data, due later today.

At 9:20 am, the Sensex was trading 105 points higher at 37,376, while the broader Nifty50 index was trading 35 points higher at 11,070.

Indian retail inflation likely rose to a 10-month high in August primarily driven by higher food prices, while staying below the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target of 4 percent, a Reuters poll of economists showed.

Meanwhile, hopes of fresh initiatives from the government to revive the automobile sector may add to the positive sentiment.

ICICI Bank, Indiabulls Housing, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, and L&T were the top gainers on the Nifty50, while Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Bharti Infratel, and NTPC led the losses.

All sectoral indices, except Nifty IT, were positive at the opening. Major buying was seen in metal and banking indices with Nifty Metal rising 1 percent, Nifty PSU Bank up 0.8 percent and Nifty Bank gaining 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, Nifty IT slipped 0.3 percent on the strong rupee.

Metal stocks cheered as trade tensions between the US and China eased. JSPL, NALCO, Tata Steel, and SAIL rose between 1.5-3.5 percent in early morning deals.

Asian shares were trading higher on the back of the diminishing US-China trade tensions and hopes of rate cut by major central banks.