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NEW DELHI: Benchmark indices opened on a firm note on Friday as upbeat global sentiment that engulfed global equties rubbed off on Indian markets too.
Asian shares advanced on Friday after upbeat data and optimism in the tech sector lifted Wall Street stocks, helping calm some of the jitters sparked by the Federal Reserve's cautious outlook on the world's biggest economy.
A sharp dovish stance adopted by the US Fed on Wednesday and the possibility of no further rate hikes this year came as a major positive for emerging markets including for India.
Rupee also gained strength against the greenback as the dollar weakened after the US Federal Reserve surprised markets by bringing its three-year tightening drive to an earlier than expected end.
The rupee on Friday opened 13 paise up at 68.70 against the US dollar.
At around 9.30 am, BSE sensex was trading 116 points, or 0.30 per cent up at 38,503.
Its NSE counterpart Nifty jumped 42 points, 0.37 per cent to 11,564.
In the 30-pack index, 23 stocks traded in the green while seven were in the red.
Bharti Airtel, which was up nearly 4 percent, was the top perfroming stock followed by NTPC, Power Grid, LT, YES Bank and Bajaj Auto.
On the other hand, HCL Tech, Infosys, HUL, ONGC and RIL formed the loser pack.
LT was the biggest Sensex contributor while TCS was the topmost drag.
On the BSE sectoral front barring energy, IT and teck all other sectors were upbeat.
Telecom, capital goods and power surged the most by 1.81 per cent, 1.11 per cent and 1.07 percent, respectively.
Furthermore, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap tracked benchmark Sensex, rising 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian equities on Wednesday to the tune of Rs 1,771.61 crore while domestic institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,323.17 crore, according to NSE's provisional data.
