Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher on Friday’s afternoon session, following strong Asian peers. The US and European markets also ended with strong gains on Thursday after the US inflation data came up as positive news. Traders hope for the US Federal Reserve’s monetary easing in its next FOMC meeting.

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The Sensex was trading at 61,664.88 up by 1,051.18 points or 1.73% after trading in a high-low range of 61,689.44 and 61,311.02. On the index, 23 stocks were advancing and only 7 were declining.

The broader indices were trading green with the BSE Midcap index up by 0.62% and the Small-cap index up by 0.69%.

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The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up 3.36%, TECK 2.96%, Metal 2.38%, Realty 2.03%, and Financial Services 1.89%. While FMCG down by 0.07% was the only losing sectoral index on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 5.22%, HDFC 5.00%, Infosys 3.84%, HCL Technologies 3.63%, and TCS 3.40%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.52%,  Kotak Mahindra Bank 0.44%, NTPC 0.38%, Hindustan Uniliver 0.25%, and  SBI 0.20% were the top losers on the index.

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The Nifty was trading at 18,322.05 up by 293.85 points or 1.63% after trading in a high-low range of 18,332.20 and 18,259.35. On the index, 38 stocks were advancing, against 12 stocks declining.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up 5.20%,  HDFC 5.03%, HDFC Life Insurance 3.82%, Infosys 3.80%, and HCL Technologies 3.62%. While Eicher Motors down 4.44%,  Hero Motocorp 1.01%,  Britannia Industries 0.89%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab 0.53, and Kotak Mahindra Bank 0.45% were the top losers on the index.

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Asian markets were trading mostly higher, Nikkei 225 advanced 2.98%, Shanghai Composite rose 1.62%, KOSPI Composite rose 3.37%, and Hang Sang rallied 6.84%.