Domestic markets trade higher on expiry of F&Os

Indian equity markets inched up on Thursday on expiry of monthly derivates contracts. BSE-Sensex opened at 28,103.60, up 75 points and the NSE- Nifty at 8,675.

At 0938 hours Sensex was trading at 28,130.15, gain of 70.21 points, or 0.27%. While Nifty was trading at 8,674.65, up by 24.35 points, or 0.28%.

On 30-share benchmark, among the top gainers were GVK Power & Infrastructure (11.04%), Hindustan Construction Co. (6.90%), Natco Pharma (5.77%), Engineers India (3.71%) and Wockhardt (4.25%). Among top losers were Muthoot Finance (-1.63%), Manappuram Finance (-1.40%), KPIT Technologies (-1.22%), Wipro (-1.16%) and Punj Llyod (-0.69%).

The rupee recovered by 3 paise to 67.08 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks.

On the global front, Asian stocks slipped, taking their cue from an overnight drop on Wall Street, while the dollar marked time ahead of Friday's speech by US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at the global central bankers'meeting.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.3%.