Among the early gainers in trade was Bajaj Auto which rallied following reports that the company plans to hike prices of its vehicles.

Other Nifty gainers included HDFC Bank, ONGC, Hero Motor Corp and ITC. IT stocks were in the limelight in trade today with TCS, gaining almost 2 per cent again, following a 4 per cent rally on Thursday.

Metal stocks which had rallied substantially in trade on Thursday saw some profit booking. Stocks like Hindalco, Sesa Goa and Tata Steel lost ground.

Banking stocks which had also rallied on Thursday were trading with marginal losses. Among the losers were Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank.

Shares of pharma major Wockhardt continued to be locked at the lower end of the circuit filter for the third consecutive day. The stock was down 5 per cent in trade.

However, shares in other pharma stocks like Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy Labs and Cipla continued to gain ground.

Gitanjali Gems continued to trade lower following the rejection of dividend payment by the promoters.

Real estate stocks were trading mixed with Sobha Developers surging by 5 per cent in early trade, while Phoenix Mills and Oberoi Realty lost ground.

Meanwhile, most of Asia were trading flat to negative with the Hong Kong's Hang Sang and Seoul Composite trading with losses, while the Taiwan Weighted was up in trade.

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