Stock market today: Equity markets in India are expected to kick off the trading session on a positive note, following the upward trend seen in other Asian markets as Tuesday begins.

The Gift Nifty GIFc1, trading at 22,124 as of 8:07 am IST, indicates that the Nifty 50 .NSEI is poised to open above Friday's closing level of 22,096.75.

Asian markets started the day on a positive note, with the MSCI ex-Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS advancing by 0.3 per cent after experiencing a 1.1 per cent drop over the previous two sessions.

Despite a decline in Wall Street equities overnight, following the strongest weekly performance of 2024 so far, Indian indices such as the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex .BSESN managed to gain about 0.3 per cent each last week. Even amid concerns over inflated valuations in small- and mid-cap stocks, these indices showed resilience, with the small- .NIFSMCP100 and mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 recording gains of approximately 1.4 per cent each.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, believes that large-cap stocks are likely to outperform in the near future, given lingering worries about inflated valuations in smaller segments of the market.

Foreign portfolio investors sold Indian equities worth Rs 33.10 billion (~ $397 million) on a net basis on Friday, while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth a net Rs 37.65 billion.

Key stocks to watch include Ultratech Cement, Hindustan Aeronautics, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories 

This positive sentiment in the equity markets suggests a hopeful start to the trading day for Indian investors.