Mumbai, Dec 9 : The Indian stock market opened flat on Monday as heavy selling was seen in Nifty's FMCG sector in early trade.

At around 9:27 am, Sensex was trading at 81,748.46 after gaining 39.34 points or 0.05 per cent, while the Nifty was trading at 24,696.10 after rising 18.30 points or 0.07 per cent.

The market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,450 stocks were trading in green, while 498 stocks were in red.

According to market experts, the near-term trend of the market is mildly bullish.

'The leadership for the rally which has taken the Nifty up by 3.2 per cent during the last fortnight has come from the leading banks, which are even now fairly valued, and have the potential to take the market forward,' they added.

"The return of the FIIs is another positive which augurs well for the large caps. The ongoing rally can take the Nifty Bank to new record highs, lifting the Nifty further up, said experts.

Nifty Bank was up 23.45 points or 0.04 per cent at 53,532.95. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,824.65 after gaining 120.05 points or 0.20 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,543.60 after gaining 51.50 points or 0.26 per cent.

Akshay Chinchalkar of Axis Securities said, "The Nifty's drop on Friday traced a small-sized bar contained within Thursday's long-range, creating a so-called 'inside day'. This represents volatility compression but since volatility is cyclical, one should expect a trending move soon."

"At current prices, the Nifty is facing resistance from the 50- and 100-day moving averages and an Ichimoku hurdle, so the 24800 - 24900 area is formidable. Support lies at 24,445 and 24,360", he mentioned.

In the Sensex pack, L&T, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and Adani Ports were the top gainers. Hindustan Unilever Limited, Infosys, M&M, Axis Bank and Ultra Tech Cement were the top losers.

In Asian markets, the markets of Jakarta and Japan were trading in green. while China, Hong Kong, Seoul and Bangkok were trading in red. In US stock markets the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended 0.25 per cent and 0.81 per cent higher, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.28 per cent down on the previous trading session.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,830.31 crore on December 6, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,659.06 crore on the same day.

/IANS