Indian share markets have opened on a flat note as sentiment across the global markets remains cautious ahead of a potential Covid-19 vaccine. Indices gradually moved higher with Nifty touching above 13500 level.

At 10.30 am, the BSE Sensex has traded 161 points higher at 46,167 while the NSE Nifty 50 index stood with gains of 49 points at 13,515. Among sectoral indices, the Nifty I.T. index continues to extend its gains. The index has opened at another record high, with gains of 0.75%. Broader markets are outperforming at the start of trade today. The midcap index is up 0.8% while the Smallcap index is up 0.4%.

Among top gainers on the Nifty are stocks like Wipro, Cipla, Infosys, Maruti and Grasim, while losers in trade include Divis Labs,  SBI life, Hero Motor Corp, HDFC lif and ONGC.

Among the stocks in focus, IT major Wipro will open its share buyback offer worth Rs. 9500 crore on December 29. The shares of the IT major in early trade were up over 3 percent.

Bajaj Auto will invest a sum of Rs. 650 crore to set up a new manufacturing unit in Maharashtra. The shares gained up to 0.8% to Rs. 3292.5

Asian markets were trading mixed with Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up, while Straits Times was trading with losses.

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