The two key Indian equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, opened in the green in early trade on Friday despite mixed global cues. The domestic indices were helped by buying in index major Reliance Industries and banking counters along with fresh foreign fund inflows.
At 10.30 am, the BSE Sensex climbed 324 points to 60,081. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 87 points to 17,823.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Reliance Industries, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Maruti and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major winners. On the flip side, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Nestle, and ICICI Bank were among the losers.
The broader markets, however, were subdued in trade as Nifty MidCap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 indices slipped up to 0.04 per cent.
All sectors started trade on a volatile note. Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG indices led the charge as they surged up to 0.5 per cent.
Among individual stocks, shares of Maruti Suzuki gained over 1 per cent ahead of the July-September quarter (Q2FY23) results due on Friday, October 28.
"In India, even though valuations look high from short-term perspective, there are favourable factors that can take the market higher. The important positive is the decline in the US 10-year bond yield to below 4 per cent which will persuade FPIs to buy rather than sell in the near-term. Encouraging Q2 results will provide fodder to the bulls," V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded lower. Wall Street had ended on a mixed note on Thursday.
In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE benchmark had climbed 213 points (0.36 per cent) to settle at 59,756, while the NSE Nifty advanced 80.60 points or 0.46 per cent to end at 17,736.95.
International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.8 per cent lower at $96.18 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Thursday as they bought shares worth Rs 2,818.40 crore, as per exchange data.