The domestic benchmark indices opened higher on Thursday amid mixed global cues, as buying was seen in the pharma, auto and IT sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.29 am, Sensex was trading 268.8 points or 0.33 per cent up at 81,267.09 while Nifty added 82.75 point or 0.34 per cent at 24,702.95.

Nifty Bank was down 29.70 points or 0.05 per cent at 55,647.15. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,188 after rising 263.35 points or 0.45 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,398.75 after climbing 141.65 points or 0.78 per cent.

According to analysts, the Nifty ended higher on Wednesday and the India VIX fell nearly 5 per cent, which bulls would have liked to see.

"For Nifty, 24,462 remains intact and that's keeping the optimism alive. Should this level break, the market will most likely drop to key support at 23,800. Short-term resistance sits between 24,760 and 24,882. Globally, stock bulls have tailwinds," said Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Eternal, PowerGrid, M&M, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, TCS, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers. Whereas Nestle India, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors and Tech Mahindra were the top losers.

According to analysts, both geopolitical and economic news are likely to weigh on markets in the near-term.

“The major economic news is the sharp dip in the US ISM PMI data. This indicates that the US economy is slowing down sharply. The US 10-year bond yield has declined to 4.36 per cent and, given the slowing US economy, is likely to trend lower," according to Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd.

This will turn out to be good for emerging markets (EMs) like India in the medium term. Buy on dips continues to be the ideal strategy now. Rate sensitives will be preferred in view of the expected rate cut by the RBI MPC, said experts.

In the Asian markets, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, China 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 42,427.74, down 91.90 points, or 0.22 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a gain of 0.44 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 5,970.81 and the Nasdaq closed at 19,460.49, up 61.53 points, or 0.32 per cent.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they bought equities worth 1,076.18 crore on June 4, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth 2,566.82 crore.