Opening Bell - Nifty and Sensex opened in red; Bank stocks trade weak

At 9:15 AM, the BSE Sensex opened lower by 28 points at 31117, while the Nifty50 opened lower by 18 points at the 9603 mark.
 
Bharti Infratel is the top Nifty gainer trading higher by 1.55% at Rs 372.3 per share and Indiabulls Housing Finance is the top Nifty loser trading lower by 1.06% at Rs 1148 per share in the morning hours on Thursday.
 
The private bank stocks like HDFC Bank, ICICI bank and Kotak Bank are trading weak on the opening bell on Thursday. These stocks are dragging down the Bank Nifty index and BSE Bankex. Bank Nifty is trading lower by 0.28% at 23359 levels.
 
There are 843 advances, 596 declines and 462 unchanged stocks on NSE reflecting strong positive bias floating in the market.
 
As per the market observers, the level of 9631.8 is the important pivot level to watch out for Nifty on Thursday. The resistance levels for Nifty on Thursday are kept at 9654 and 9672 while the support levels are kept at 9614 and 9591.
 
Rupee opened at 64.48 per USD appreciated by 3 paise on Thursday.
 
The US stocks closed slightly lower on Wednesday as weakness lingered in the energy and banking stocks. The S&P 500 index registered a drop of single point to close at 2,412. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 21 points to end at 21,009, its third straight modest decline. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 5 points to finish at 6,199.
 
Asian markets were trading mixed on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has surged 161 points, whereas Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has slipped 33 points and China’s Shanghai Composite has shed 13 points.