Stock Market: Sensex Rises 300 Points, Nifty Trades Above 17,650. Axis Bank Jumps Over 5 Per Cent

Stock update: Axis Bank climbed nearly 6 per cent, while other major winners from the 30-share pack were Titan, Hindustan Unilever, SBI, UltraTech Cement and Mahindra & Mahindra on the Sensex pack

In the broader markets, Nifty MidCap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 indices climbed up to 0.4 per cent.

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Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, began trade in the green on Friday, tracking gains in Axis Bank and a mixed trend in Asian markets. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the markets on Thursday after many days and this also added to the momentum.

The BSE Sensex climbed 327 points to 59,530 in early trade. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 89 points to 17,653.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Axis Bank climbed nearly 6 per cent after the company on Thursday clocked a 66.29 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for the September quarter at Rs 5,625.25 crore, driven by a substantial decrease in bad loan provisions and margin expansion. The other major winners from the 30-share pack were Titan, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Mahindra & Mahindra.

On the flip side, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, HCL Technologies, Dr Reddy's, Infosys, and Tata Steel were among the losers.

In the broader markets, Nifty MidCap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 indices climbed up to 0.4 per cent.

Barring Nifty IT, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Media indices, all sectors traded on a positive note. Nifty PSU Bank index gained the most, over 2 per cent.

In other Asian markets, Seoul and Shanghai were trading higher, while Tokyo and Hong Kong quoted lower in mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended lower on Thursday.

"IT and banks account for the major chunk of India Inc's profits. After good Q2 results from IT, leading banks are posting very good Q2 numbers indicating that corporate earnings are in-line with optimistic expectations. Q2 results of Axis Bank and ITC have beaten expectations," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE benchmark climbed 95 points (0.16 per cent) to settle at 59,202, while the Nifty ended 51 points (0.30 per cent) higher at 17,563.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading o.32 per cent higher at $92.68 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers after many days as they bought shares worth Rs 1,864.79 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.