Indian shares started March series on a strong note on Friday amid growing optimism over a thaw in India-Pakistan conflict as Islamabad is set to release wing commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

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Benchmark indices surged on buying across nearly all sectors barring telecom where Bharti Airtel

shares plunged more than 3 percent in early trade as the Sunil Bharti Mittal-promoted telco creates a war chest of Rs 32,000 crore to take on Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio.

Bharti stock has fallen nearly 4 percent after the board approved fundraising but the brokerages are positive on the fund raising plan and maintain 'buy' rating for the stock.

At 10.02 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 223 points higher, up 0.62 percent, at 36,090.62, while the NSE Nifty50 added 67 points, or 0.62 percent, to 10,859.60. Earlier, the Sensex started 151 points up, or 0.42 percent, at 36,018.50, while the NSE Nifty50 jumped 53.50 points, or 0.50 percent, to trade at 10,846.

Broader market also surged more than 0.40 percent with the Nifty MidCap index at 16,790.30. At 10.02 am, both the Nifty and BSE Midcap indices were up more than a percent.

Bank Nifty gained 0.64 percent. Among sectors, only BSE Telecom dipped out of 43 indices, falling almost half a percent. Only 7 Nifty stocks traded in the red with Bharti Airtel falling more than 2 percent.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Bajaj Auto, Cipla, Wipro, Coal India and Asian Paints were other laggards. Vedanta, Yes Bank and Indiabulls Housing Finance were the top three surging stocks.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee opened flat at 70.74 against the US dollar, after Thursday's close of 70.72 against the greenback.

Asian shares surged with Japan's Nikkei up more than a percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng also rose almost half a percent. Overall investor sentiment in Asian remained cautious as slowdown concerns and doubts about China's economy weighed.

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