Indian equity benchmarks are likely to start Thursday's session on a positive note. At 8:23 am, Singapore Exchange Nifty futures -- an early indicator of the Nifty index -- were up 137 points or 0.8 percent at 18,353, suggesting a gap-up opening ahead on Dalal Street.

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Equities in other Asian markets edged lower despite overnight gains on Wall Street, after consumer prices data that largely met expectations eased some concerns about faster-than-expected rate hikes. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent at the last count.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.8 percent and China's Shanghai Composite 0.1 percent, though Hong Kong's Hang Seng managed a 0.3 percent gain. South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.2 percent and Singapore's Straits Times flat.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.2 percent in Asia. On Wednesday, the three main Wall Street indices -- the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq Composite -- rose 0.1-0.3 percent.

CNBC-TV18’s in-house panel of experts has picked a list of stocks for investors to buy/sell in trade today. Here are the top buy-sell calls by market experts:

Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com

Buy Hindustan Unilever with a stop loss at Rs 2,370

Buy Bharat Forge with a stop loss at Rs 735

Buy Bajaj Finance with a stop loss at Rs 7,690

Mitessh Thakkar of earningwaves.com

Buy Bata India for a target of Rs 2,020 with a stop loss at Rs 1,965

Buy CONCOR for a target of Rs 680 with a stop loss at Rs 647

Buy Tata Communications for a target of Rs 1,650 with a stop loss at Rs 1,515

Buy Reliance Industries for a target of Rs 2,590 with a stop loss at Rs 2,500

Disclaimer: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

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(Edited by : Sandeep Singh)