(MENAFN- IANS) Mumbai, Aug 19 (IANS) The Indian benchmark indices on Tuesday opened on a positive note, amid market enthusiasm regarding the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms.

Sensex gained 195.01 points or 0.24 per cent in the morning session to touch 81,468, while Nifty 50 rose by 46.30 points or 0.19 per cent to 24,923.

Broad cap indices also saw buying activity. The BSE SmallCap index was up by 0.30 per cent and the BSE MidCap index advanced 0.11 per cent.

Top gainers in the Nifty pack were Bharti Airtel (up 1.76 per cent), Hero Motocorp and NTPC. Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki, and Hindalco were among the top laggards.

Nifty Auto slipped 0.24 per cent after gaining over 4 per cent yesterday. Nifty Oil and Gas jumped 0.71 per cent. Most of the indices made moderate gains up to 0.60 per cent.

"The talks in White House indicate that there is a 'reasonable chance of ending the war', consequently leading to the elimination of secondary tariffs on India. This may turn out to be a positive from the market perspective," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

He cautioned that it would be premature to expect positive responses from the Trump administration considering the current geopolitical environment.

Meanwhile, the policy initiatives from the government on the GST front, with indications of next-generation reforms, have improved market sentiments significantly.

"On the daily chart, Nifty formed a shooting star, hinting at a possible pullback toward 24,700. However, hourly RSI shows bullish divergence, indicating strength and scope for an upside movement. With FII long-short ratio at just 8 per cent, short covering could fuel the rally," said Mandar Bhojane from Choice Broking.

Asian markets were trading mixed in the morning session. China's Shanghai index was up by 0.34 per cent, China's Shenzhen index rose by 0.34 per cent and and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI) edged up by 0.02 per cent. Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.14 per cent and South Korea's Kospi declined by 0.35 per cent.

In the US markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was down by 0.08 per cent, the Nasdaq was up by 0.03 per cent, and the S&P 500 was nearly flat with a decline of 0.01 per cent.

On Monday, foreign institutional investors turned net buyers after 4 sessions, purchasing Indian equities worth Rs 551 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 4,104 crore.

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