Indian equity benchmarks opened higher on Friday, mirroring advances in Axis Bank and a choppy trend in Asian markets. In early trade, the Sensex rose 327.9 points to 59,530.80. Similarly, the Nifty rose 89.65 points to 17,653.60.

Axis Bank, Titan, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, and Mahindra & Mahindra advanced from the Sensex pack.

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However, laggards included Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, HCL Technologies, Dr Reddy’s, Infosys, and Tata Steel.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red with Nikkei 225 slipping 86.43 points or 0.32% to 26,920.53, Straits Times sinking 29.91 points or 0.99% to 2,992.79, Hang Seng losing 28.09 points or 0.17% to 16,252.13, Taiwan Weighted fell 67.03 points or 0.52% to 12,879.07 and KOSPI was down by 5.70 points or 0.26% to 2,212.39. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite rose 47.70 points or 0.68% to 7,028.35 and Shanghai Composite was up by 15.13 points or 0.50% to 3,050.18.

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Wall Street ended lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 29.38 points, or 0.8%, to 3,665.78 on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 90.22 points, or 0.3%, to 30,333.59. The Nasdaq fell 65.66 points, or 0.6%, to 10,614.84. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 21.36 points, or 1.2%, to 1,704.39.

“IT and banks account for the major chunk of India Inc’s profits. After good Q2 results from IT, leading banks are posting very good Q2 numbers indicating that corporate earnings are in-line with optimistic expectations. Q2 results of Axis Bank and ITC have beaten expectations,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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On Thursday, the Sensex rose 95.71 points, or 0.16%, to 59,202.90. The Nifty concluded 51.70 points, or 0.30% up, at 17,563.95.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) returned to the markets as net buyers on Thursday, adding to the momentum. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought shares worth a net of Rs 1,864.79 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 886.80 crore on October 20, as per data available on the NSE.

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Brent crude was trading 0.32% higher at USD 92.68 a barrel. In early trade on Friday, the rupee fell 12 paise to 82.91 versus the US dollar, reflecting a robust American currency in the international market.