Sensex Trades Higher, Asian Markets Mixed

Indian markets continued to trend higher, after a 2-day break, with shares in Asia-Pacific trading mixed on Thursday, as investors reacted to data releases in both Australia and China. Dow Futures were also slightly higher, which led to buying across markets.

The Sensex was trading with gains of 250 points, while the Nifty was higher by 80 points in early trade.

Shares in PVR was holding steady, despite losses at the multiplex operator for the Q4 quarter of FY21 widening to Rs. 289 crore. "FY 2020-21 was one of the toughest years for the multiplex industry and the company was able to successfully navigate the challenges on account of COVID-19 through a continuous focus on reducing fixed costs and keeping adequate liquidity on the balance sheet," the company said in a release.

Wipro shares too saw gains after the company in a BSE filing disclosed that it has made a minority strategic investment in Squadcast, Inc. The shares were up 0.50% in early trade.

Reliance Industries shares were reacting to information released in the annual report. Ambani called Jio, retail and O2C businesses to be the company's hyper-growth engines. The shares which have run-up significantly in the last 1-week, was up another 1% in trade.

Banking shares were steady ahead of the MPC meet decision on interest rates later on Friday.