India's benchmark stock indices opened higher and steadily advanced on Friday.
Metals, public-sector banks, oil & gas, and auto sectors rose in trade, while shares of healthcare and private banks were under little pressure.
As of 12:13 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex was up 204 points, or 0.31%, at 64,035.44, while the NSE Nifty 50 was 81 points, or 0.42%, higher at 19,334.60.
NTPC Ltd., Tata Steel Ltd., Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Bajaj Finance Ltd. were positively adding to the change in the Nifty.
HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Asian Paints Ltd., Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. were negatively contributing to the change.
The broader market indices outperformed the larger peers. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.43%, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was 0.65% higher.
Nineteen out of the 20 sectors compiled by the BSE advanced, while the S&P BSE Healthcare declined. The S&P BSE Telecommunication, S&P BSE Utilities and S&P BSE Metal rose the most.
The market breadth was skewed in the favour of the buyers. About 2,087 stocks rose, 1,364 declined and 173 remained unchanged on the BSE.
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