Mumbai, April 5 (IANS): Taking a cue from global markets, the key Indian equity market indices on Thursday opened higher ahead of the first and an important bi-monthly monetary policy announcement for the new financial year 2018-19 later in the day.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 33,019.07 points on Wednesday, opened higher at 33,289.96 points.

Minutes into trading, it was quoting at 33,411.74 points, up by 392.67 points, or 1.19 per cent.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 51-scrip Nifty, which had closed at 10,128.40 points on Wednesday, was quoting at 10,244.15 points, up by 115.75 points or 1.14 per cent.

After two consecutive sessions of gains, the key indices of the Indian equity markets tumbled on Wednesday after further trade protectionist measures imposed by two major global economies, the US and China, on each other spooked investors.

The Sensex was down by 351.56 points or 1.05 per cent at the Wednesday's closing. In the day's trade, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index had touched a high of 33,505.53 points and a low of 32,972.56 points. The Nifty too was down by 116.60 points or 1.14 per cent.

On Thursday, Asian indices were mostly showing a positive trend. While Japan's Nikkei 225 was trading in green, up by 1.73 per cent, South Korea's Kospi was also up by 1.43 per cent.

Nasdaq closed in green, up by 1.43 per cent while FTSE 100 was also up by 0.05 per cent at the closing on Wednesday.