Stock Market Updates: Sensex up 150 points, Nifty above 16,550; Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel top gainers

Indian benchmark indices opened higher amid positive global cues. At 09:20 hours, the 30-share BSE index was trading 32 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 55,588.00, and the broader NSE Nifty was up 32 points or 0.20 per cent to 16,528.85.

Tech Mahindra and Tata Steel were the top gainers in the Sensex pack, advancing over 2 per cent, followed by NTPC, L&T, Power Grid, Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel.

On the other hand, Asian Paints and Maruti Suzuki were among the losers.

On August 23, Sensex ended 226 points higher at 55,555 and Nifty gained 46 points to 16,496. HCL Tech was the top  Sensex gainer rising over 4 per cent, followed by TCS, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance and Tech Mahindra.

M&M, Bajaj Auto, UltraTech Cement and PowerGrid were among the top Sensex losers falling up to 2.50%.

Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities said, "Technically, on intraday charts, the index has formed a double bottom formation. We are of the view that the 10 days SMA or 16450 would be the immediate support for the bulls. As long as Nifty is trading above the same, an upside could lift the index up to 16,550. On the other hand, trading below 16450 could possibly open one more leg of correction up to 16,350-16,300 levels."

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,363 crore on August 23 and DIIs lapped up shares worth Rs 1,452 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.