The Indian markets opened on a mildly positive note with the BSE Sensex at 17,615, up 52 points and the Nifty at 5,302, up 17 points.

In US, stocks climbed higher in the final hour of trading after a choppy day. Investors shifted their focus to Italy, as it appeared that Greece is finally getting its house in order. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.71% at 12,068. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.63% to 1,261. The Nasdaq moved up 0.3%. The Singapore Nifty futures are at 5,316, up 52 points.

In Europe, Italy overtook Greece as the prime threat to the stability of the euro- zone, as finance ministers met to try to find ways of building a firewall around the two-year-old crisis.

In Asia, the Nikkei share average dipped during morning trades, with investors cautious as Italian bonds soared ahead of a parliamentary vote on budget reforms. The Nikkei is down 0.2% at 8,752. The Shanghai Composite index is almost unchanged at 2,510 while the Hang Seng is up 1% at 19,794.

Back home, technical analysts peg the support for the Nifty at 5,200 5,160 and expect it to face resistance at 5,320 5,485 levels.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE FMCG, Oil & Gas, PSU and Metal indices, up nearly 1% each, are the leading the gains.

BSE IT is leading the losses at 5,738, down 0.4%.

On the Sensex, ONGC, JP Associates, Hindalco Industries, M&M and TCS, up 1-2% each, are the prominent gainers. The losers from the pack are Infosys, Sun Pharma Industries, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors, down marginally.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1,007 stocks have advanced against 522 declining ones, on the BSE.