The Sensex was trading higher 97 points, while the Nifty gained 24 points in early trade. Among the gainers in trade today were ICICI Bank, Cipla, Bhel and BPCL.

Shares of Bharti Airtel were up more than 1% after the company said it will launch an IPO for its telecom tower business.

Tata Motors was down in trade after Morgan Stanley Asia sold 50 lakh shares of the company with differential voting rights for Rs 80.50 crore through open market transactions.

Among the losers in trade were UltraTech Cement, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Bajaj Auto and Ambuja Cements.

Banking stocks were trading mixed with State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank gaining, while Axis Bank lost ground.

Heavyweight, Reliance Industries was trading marginally lower on profit booking.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading significantly higher with the Japanese Nikkei, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted, the Chinese Shanghai Composite and Singapore's Strait Times all trading higher.

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