Sensex, Nifty open marginally higher

Equity gauges Sensex and Nifty started the session with marginal gains on Monday, tracking positive Asian shares.

In opening deals, BSE Sensex was trading 54.76 points or 0.14 percent higher at 38,183.66; while Nifty was up 9.40 points or 0.84 percent at 11,203.55.

Asian shares were trading mostly higher in afternoon trade on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.41 percent lower at USD 43.24 per barrel.

On Friday, the Sensex had settled 11.57 points, or 0.03 percent, lower at 38,128.90; and the Nifty had ended 21.30 points, or 0.19 percent, down at 11,194.15.

On weekly basis, the Sensex gained 1,108.76 points or 2.99 percent, while the Nifty jumped 292.45 points or 2.68 percent.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 409.88 crore on a net basis on Friday.

Growing tensions between the US and China largely led to subdued sentiment in financial markets globally in recent weeks.

Global stocks had lost steam last week tracking growing geopolitical tensions.

Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.6 crore and the deaths are over 6.5 lakh.

In India, the death toll due to the disease has surpassed 32,000-mark and the number of infections topped 14 lakh.