Mumbai, May 21 : The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Wednesday amid mixed global cues as buying was seen in the pharma, auto, PSU bank and financial service sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.35 am, Sensex was trading 296.53 points or 0.37 per cent up at 81,482.97 while the Nifty added 88.90 point or 0.36 per cent at 24,772.80

Nifty Bank was up 98.55 points or 0.18 per cent at 54,975.90. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,028.55 after declining 154.10 points or 0.27 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,419.35 after dropping 63.65 points or 0.36 per cent.

According to analysts, Indian equity benchmarks declined sharply on Tuesday amid reports of increasing COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asian countries, like Singapore and Hong Kong.

"Technically, Nifty closed below its 5-day EMA for the first time since May 8, 2025, suggesting a shift to profit-booking. Support levels lie at 24,494 and 24,378, while resistance is expected in the 24,800-24,900 range," said Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities.

In the absence of strong global cues, Indian markets are likely to pick up from where they left off yesterday, he added.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Nestle India, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement and Hindustan Unilever were the top gainers. Whereas, Eternal, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and NTPC were the top losers.

In the Asian markets, China, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta were trading in green. whereas Only Japan was trading in red.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 42,677.24, down 114.83 points, or 0.27 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 23.14 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 5,940.46 and the Nasdaq closed at 19,142.71, down 72.75 points, or 0.38 per cent.

The spike in uncertainty and risk is impacting the market rather unexpectedly. Yesterday's FII sell figure of Rs 10,016 crore is a major reversal of their big buying in May and if this persists, it has the potential to impact the market, said experts.

"Credit rating downgrade of US sovereign debt and the consequent spike in US bond yields, spike in Japanese Govt Bond yields, rising COVID cases in some parts of India and reports of a possible Israel attack on Iran are doing the rounds, and combination of these all factors may be responsible for this sudden reversal in FII activity," they mentioned.

According to provisional data from the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian equities worth Rs 10,016.10 crore on May 20, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 6,738.39 crore.

/IANS