Equity markets rebound in early trade on firm global trends

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices rebounded in early trade on Friday after a nearly 1 per cent decline in the previous day amid positive trends in the global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 235.61 points to 65,743.93 in early trade. The Nifty advanced 76.7 points to 19,600.25.

Among the Sensex firms, NTPC, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries Limited, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and ITC were the biggest gainers.

Infosys, Wipro, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Axis Bank were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory.

The US markets ended in the green on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.05 per cent to USD 95.43 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,364.22 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

"Markets may see a firm opening on the back of strong global cues, but stocks are likely to fluctuate intra-day given the uncertainty over rising interest rate scenario, surge in the US dollar and bond yields, and rising crude oil prices," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said in his pre-opening market comment.

The BSE benchmark fell 610.37 points or 0.92 per cent to settle at 65,508.32 on Thursday. The Nifty declined 192.90 points or 0.98 per cent to end at 19,523.55.