Stock markets update: Equity benchmark indices opened higher in early trade on Friday amid positive global cues. In the early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 226.11 points to 80,123.45 Meanwhile, the Nifty was also up by 82.1 points to 24,398.05.
Among the Sensex pack, Tata Consultancy Services climbed over 2 per cent after the country's largest IT services player reported 8.7 per cent growth in the June quarter net profit at Rs 12,040 crore. Infosys, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies were the other major gainers. Maruti, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel and ITC were among the laggards.
In Asian markets, Hong Kong quoted higher while Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai traded lower. US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.25 per cent to USD 85.59 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,137.01 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. Retreating from early highs, the BSE benchmark closed lower by 27.43 points or 0.03 per cent at 79,897.34 on Thursday. The NSE Nifty edged down 8.50 points or 0.03 per cent to settle at 24,315.95.
Rupee against dollar
The rupee traded flat at 83.53 against the US currency in early trade on Friday amid firm crude oil prices and gains in domestic stocks. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened flat at 83.53 against the US dollar.
The local unit moved in a tight range of 83.50 to 83.54 in morning deals. The rupee was trading flat at 83.53 against the US dollar at 0935 hrs. Forex dealers said the impact of firm crude oil prices was offset by overnight losses in the US dollar index and early gains in the domestic equity markets. The US dollar index eased on Thursday after softer US inflation data raised hopes of rate cut by the US Fed by September.
(With inputs from PTI)
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