Mumbai, Mar 7 (IANS): Despite a muted trend in Asian markets, the key Indian equity market indices on Thursday opened higher.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 36,636.10 points on Wednesday, opened higher at 36,744.02 points.

Minutes into trading, it was quoting at 36,685.11 points, up by 49.01 points, or 0.13 per cent.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader Nifty 50, which had closed at 11,053 points on Wednesday, was quoting at 10, 062 points, up by 9.60 points or 0.09 per cent.

As many as 31 stocks declined in the Nifty 50 index while 17 stocks advanced and two remained unchanged. In BSE, Sensex 17 stocks including Tata Motors, ITC, TCS were trading in green while 13 stocks including Coal India, Tata Steel, Yes Bank were trading in red.

A sharp fall in crude oil prices along with continuous foreign fund inflows helped the major indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- to gain over 0.50 per cent each on Wednesday.

The Sensex was up by 193.56 points or 0.53 per cent at the Wednesday's closing. In the day's trade, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index had touched a high of 36,666.47 points and a low of 36,456.82 points. The Nifty, too was up by 65.55 points or 0.60 per cent.

On Thursday, Asian indices were showing mostly a negative trend. Japan's Nikkei 225 was quoting in red, down by 0.76 per cent while Hang Seng was also trading in red, down by 0.45 per cent and South Korea's Kospi was down by 0.30 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite was also trading red, down by 0.06 per cent.

Overnight, Nasdaq closed in red, down by 0.93 per cent while FTSE 100 was up by 0.17 per cent at the closing on Wednesday.