The Sensex and Nifty were trading marginally higher as traders remained cautious ahead of September month derivatives expiry.

Offloading of bets — today being the last trading session of the September series contracts in the futures and options (F&O) segment — made investors go slow.

A depreciating rupee, which slipped 16 paise to a fresh six-and-a-half month low of 65.88 against the dollar today, made traders all the more nervous.

At 10.35 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 66.96 points or 0.21 at 31,226.77 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 6.7 points or 0.07 per cent at 9,742.45.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index gained the most by 1.11 per cent, followed by healthcare 1.01 per cent, metal 0.78 per cent and power 0.68 per cent. On the other hand, oil & gas index was down 0.63 per cent, consumer durables 0.2 per cent, TECk 0.07 per cent and IT 0.02 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Dr Reddy's (+3.06%), ITC (+1.14%), Sun Pharma (+1.1%), Cipla (+0.83%) and Maruti (+0.73%), while the major losers were Asian Paints (-2.93%), Hero MotoCorp (-0.98%), Wipro (-0.78%). Bharti Airtel (-0.57%) and TCS (-0.21%).

Asian shares were firm, while US bond yields and the dollar held sizeable gains made the previous day after President Donald Trump proposed the biggest US tax overhaul in three decades. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5 per cent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed in early trade.

US stocks jumped on Wednesday as gains in financial shares were powered by growing expectations for a December interest rate hike and on hopes President Donald Trump’s administration may be making progress on a tax plan.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose 56.39 points or 0.25 per cent to 22,340. The S&P500 index gained 10.2 points or 0.41 per cent to 2,507. The Nasdaq Composite index added 73.10 points or 1.15 per cent to 6,453.