The key domestic equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday opened sharply higher tracking positive cues from global markets.
At 10.15 am, the BSE Sensex was up 617 points at 57,475, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading at 17,123, up 194 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Steel clocked the lead gainer, up 8.27 per cent. Bajaj Finserv, TechM, NTPC, M&M, Infosys, and others were leading, while only three constituents – SBI, Sun Pharma, and Dr Reddy – were the losers. Dr Reddy was down 3.78 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices opened in green and were up to 0.9 per cent higher.
On NSE, 13 out of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the positive zone. Sub-indexes Nifty Auto, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty IT, and Nifty Metal were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.57 per cent, 1.58 per cent, 1.42 per cent, and 1.51 per cent, respectively.
The overall market breadth was strong as 1,841 shares were advancing, while 544 were declining on the BSE.
In the previous session on Thursday, Sensex had zoomed 1,041 points (1.87 per cent) to close at 56,858, while Nifty had moved 288 points (1.73 per cent) higher to settle at 16,930.
In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo were trading in higher, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower. The US markets had ended higher on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 30 paise to 79.39 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, buoyed by fresh foreign fund inflows into capital markets and a firm trend in the domestic equities.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened sharply up at 79.55 against the US dollar, then gained further momentum to quote 79.39 in early deals, registering a gain of 30 paise over the last close.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.11 per cent to $107.02 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital markets as they picked up shares worth Rs 1,637.69 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.