The Sensex was trading with a gain of 2 points, while the Nifty was down 5 points in early trade. Tata Motors was trading higher after reports that the company has announced an investment of 200 million pounds at its Halewood plant in the UK to support introduction of its upcoming SUV Discovery Sport.

Early Nifty gainers in trade were ITC, Jindal Steel and Hero Motor Corp. Software stocks continued to rule higher in early trade with notable winners being TCS and Infosys.

ONGC, which fell sharply on Thursday by almost 5 per cent, recouped some losses and was trading higher by one per cent.

Banking stocks were the early losers in trade with Canara Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda trading with losses.

Shares in Reliance Communications gained on reports that its subsidiary will lay a new subsea cable between India and Singapore.

Mid cap stocks were trading almost little changed, except Jubilant Foods, which dropped 2 per cent. Other notable losers from the space were Voltas and Tata Chemicals.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were having a quiet day in trade. The Hong Kong's Hang Sang and the Jakarta Composite were trading marginally higher, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite and the Taiwan Weighted fell.

GoodReturns.in