New Delhi, June 1

Domestic equity benchmark indices traded marginally lower in opening deals on Wednesday.

At 9.57 a.m., Sensex was 148 points down to 55,418, whereas Nifty 34 points down to 16,550.

Stocks in other Asian countries were steady on Wednesday, while bond yields extended their advances amid a debate about how aggressive monetary tightening will need to be to fight inflation, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC securities.

"A clear trend is unlikely to emerge in the market in the near-term. At lower levels DIIs and retail investors will buy, pushing the market up; at higher levels FPIs will sell, pushing the market down," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Investors can follow a cautious investment strategy in this uncertain context by buying high quality stocks which will benefit from growth recovery, he said, adding that leading financials, IT, cement, telecom and segments of autos appear sound investment bets.

ians