Mumbai, Dec 17 (IANS): The key Indian equity indices opened on a positive note on Thursday with the BSE Sensex crossing the 46,800 mark.

Both the Sensex and Nifty50 touched new record highs of 46,812.37 points and 13,724.70 points respectively.

Healthy buying was witnessed in consumer durables and healthcare stocks, while decline in metal, telecom and FMCG stocks limited the gains on the indices.

Around 10.20 a.m., Sensex was trading at 46,743.21, higher by 76.75 points or 0.16 per cent from its previous close of 46,666.46.

It opened at 46,774.32 and has so far touched an intra-day high of 46,812.37 and a low of 46,627.60 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 13,707.65, higher by 24.95 points or 0.18 per cent from its previous close.

Manish Hathiramani, technical analyst with Deen Dayal Investments said: "We are at a very important juncture of 13,700. This is the upper end of the resistance patch. Either we make a U-turn from here and correct a little or we take off and achieve newer highs of 14,000-14,200.

"We need to see how the markets close today. 13,450-13,500 is a good support for the Nifty," he said.