The Sensex and Nifty opened marginally higher on Thursday amid lower Asian markets as optimism over  US and China trade talks started wearing off. While the Sensex rallied over 28 points to 36,664 in early trade, the Nifty was up just 0.95 points to 11, 053.

PowerGrid  (1.52%), Tata Motors (1.19%) and Axis Bank (0.74%) were the top Sensex gainers.

Top Sensex losers were Vedanta (1.65%), Coal India (0.97%) and YES Bank (0.85%).

On Wednesday, the Sensex rose 193  points or 0.53 percent to 36,636.35, Nifty gained 65 points, or 0.60 per cent, to 11,053.

Meanwhile, the mid cap and small cap indices were trading 34 points and 5 points lower in early trade. Market breadth was negative with 724 stocks trading higher compared to 658  falling on the BSE.

IT and banking stocks led the gains with their indices rising 215 points and 128 points, respectively. Metal and auto stocks were the top losers with their BSE indexes losing 92 points and 78 points,respectively.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 1130 crore on Wednesday, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 878 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Global markets

Asian shares were mostly lower Thursday as optimism about progress in trade talks between the U.S. and China started wearing off.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.7 percent in early trading to 21,439.64. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up nearly 0.3 percent to 6,262.20.

South Korea's Kospi was slightly lower at 2,175.26. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped nearly 0.5 percent to 28,902.43, while the Shanghai Composite was also down 0.5 percent at 3,087.41.

Edited by Aseem Thapliyal