Markets open higher; discount political worries

After four successive days of losses, markets opened the day higher on the back of strong global cues. The Sensex was trading higher by 56 points, while the Nifty gained 21 points in early trade.

Bharti Airtel gained 2.7 per cent in after the company launched its fourth generation (4G) mobile broadband services in select cities in the north.

Tata Motors fell despite reports that Egypt has initiated talks with the Tata group to set up an automobile manufacturing facility and a hotel chain in the African country. The stock was down 1.9 per cent in early trade.

Nifty stocks that rallied in trade were Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Larsen and Toubro, NTPC, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries.

Indian Overseas Bank gained after the company obtained the approval of its shareholders to create and allot 12.71 crore equity shares to the Government. The stock was up 1.70 per cent in early trade.

Blue chip stocks that hit a 52-week low on Wednesday recovered following value buying in these stocks. Some of the blue chip stocks that had hit 52-week lows on Thursday included Hindalco, MMTC, NMDC, Reliance Infra, Bharat Heavy, Cairn India and ABB.

Realty stocks continued to be hit with DB Realty dropping 3 per cent, while HDIL fell another 2.77 per cent, after dropping 20 per cent on Wednesday.

The Bank Nifty was trading with gains following buying in heavyweight names like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India.

The Mid Cap index was steady with gains of 0.65 per cent, supported by names like Allahabad Bank, Adani Power, Karnataka Bank, Hindustan Zinc and Hexaware.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading firm following strong overseas closings in the US. Indian markets are likely to continue to take cues from political developments in the country.

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