New Delhi, Mar 3 (IANS): India's key indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- rose marginally in the opening session on Thursday possibly due to some value buying after the recent decline in the indices.

At 9.56 a.m., Sensex was 0.3 per cent or 178 points up at 55,647 points, whereas Nifty 0.3 per cent or 55 points up at 16,661 points.

Among stocks, Tech Mahindra, IOC, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and BPCL were the top five gainers in the opening session, rallying 3.1 per cent, 2.6 per cent, 2.6 per cent, 2.4 per cent, and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

Asian Paints, HDFC Life, Ultratech Cement, SBI LIfe, Eicher motors, on the other hand, were the top five losers, NSE data showed.

"Nifty has corrected 11 per cent from the peak. But with FIIs being relentless sellers, further correction cannot be ruled out. Investors may start nibbling at high quality stocks which have corrected disproportionately," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.