New Delhi, Jul 31 (IANS): In India even though the underlying strength of the market is strong, FPI selling of Rs 5,000 crore during the last two trading sessions might restrain the bulls, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Market heavy weights RIL, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, L&T and ITC are on strong wicket, he said.

Market expectation of soft landing for the US economy is driving the US market and with its support, global markets.

India’s strong performance is aided also by the superior performance of the Indian economy. Incoming data suggests that these fundamental supports to the markets are set to continue, he said.

In the US,there are indications of inflation continuing on the downward trend while the economy is showing resilience.

The winning streak of US markets has been continuing for the third week for the Dow and fifth week for Nasdaq, he said.

BSE Sensex is up 150 points at 66,310 points with NTPC the top gainer.

Power stocks, NTPC up more than 2 per cent, Powergrid up more than 1 per cent are leading the rally on Monday.

Tata Steel is up more than 2 per cent as metal stocks are also strong.

IT stocks, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Wipro are up more than 1 per cent in trade.