Mumbai: Indian shares opened mildly higher, amid mixed cues from global peers and as Thursday's mega M&A action spurred some sentiment.
At open, the BSE Sensex was up 0.02 per cent, or 7 points, to 28,070 while the Nifty rose 0.02 per cent, or 3 points, or 8,405.
Among early movers, Kotak Mahindra Bank was up 7 per cent after it announced a merger with smaller peer ING Vysya Bank in an all share-deal that valued the latter at US dollar 2.5 billion.
The BSE Sensex was up 0.02 per cent, or 7 points, to 28,070 while the Nifty rose 0.02 per cent, or 3 points, or 8,405.
ING shares were up 1.6 per cent. Shares of other small private sector banks such as South Indian Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank and City Union Bank jumped 3.6-4 per cent amid hopes Kotak's deal would trigger a wider consolidation in the banking industry and make them potential acquisition candidates.
Tech Mahindra rose 0.5 per cent, after announcing the acquisition of Lightbridge Communications for USD 240 million. Shares such as Geometric and MindTree slumped 6.8 percent and 1.8 per cent, respectively, after they ran up over the past few days on speculation by traders they would be Tech Mahindra's takeover candidates.
Among other movers, Yes Bank was up 2.4 per cent after the RBI announced FIIs to buy shares in the counter. Gammon India rose 3 percent after announcing divesting stake in Gammon Infra.
While Financial Technologies jumped 3.6 per cent after Jignesh Shah, accused of being involved in the NSEL scam, stepped down from its board.
