New Delhi, Sep 4 : Nifty opened higher and held on to steady gains through Monday barring a small downmove in the morning. At close, Nifty was up 0.48 per cent or 93.5 points at 19,528.8, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said  Volumes on the NSE were higher than recent average. Broad market indices rose more than the Nifty even as the advance decline ratio was high at 1.69:1. Global stocks were higher on Monday following a report that signaled the US jobs market, while still healthy, shows some signs of cooling, raising hopes for an easing of interest rate hikes, he said. Announcement of fresh stimulus measures from China - cutting down-payment requirements for first and second-time home buyers and lowered rates on existing mortgages also helped sentiments. Nifty rose for the second day building on the gains of the previous session. US markets are shut on Monday due to labour day holiday. Nifty could now face resistance in the 19,584-19,646 band while 19,310 could offer support. Nifty continues to stay in the bullish territory as the index has maintained its position above the channel breakout level, said Rupak De, Senior Technical analyst at LKP Securities. The trend is expected to stay positive as long as it remains above 19,525. On the upside, the index could potentially extend its gains towards 19,750. Conversely, if it falls below 19,400, we may witness a period of consolidation, he said. After showing a fine upmove from the lower supports on Friday, Nifty continued with follow-through upside on Monday and closed the day higher by 93 points, says Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities. After opening with a positive note, the market slipped into minor intra-day weakness from the highs and filled the opening upside gap in the early part of the session. A sustainable upmove continued in the mid to later part of the session and the market closed at the highs. Nifty is currently in an attempt of showing upside breakout of the down sloping trend line around 19,500 levels. A decisive move above 19,600 levels is expected to pull Nifty towards the next upside of around 19,800-19,900 levels in the near term. Immediate support is at 19,430 levels, he said. /IANS