Indian equity benchmark indices opened firmly higher on Friday - after 5 days of continuous losses - with Nifty above 15,900, tracking gains in US equity futures and Asian markets. High inflationary pressures continue to sting investor confidence and prospects of strong corporate earnings.

At 09:16 am, the 30-scrip Sensex was up 480.23 points or 0.91 percent at 53,410.54, and the broader Nifty was up 164.30 points or 1.04 percent at 15,972.30.

About 1,486 shares have advanced, 397 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, ONGC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Eicher Motors and Hero MotoCorp were among major gainers on the Nifty.

On Thursday, domestic retail inflation for April came at an 8-year high of 7.8 percent, paving the way for more policy rate hikes by the central bank even as factory output growth remained lacklustre at 1.9 percent in March.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also said on Thursday that there could be some pain for the economy as the central bank raises interest rates to tame near 40-year high inflation.

SBI, Bank of Baroda, Tech M, Eicher Motors will be in focus ahead of their Q4 earnings. Investors will also react to results of Tata Motors and L&T, announced on Thursday.

The broader markets also advanced with the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rising up to 2 percent.

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Amid the sectoral indices, Nifty metal, auto, media and pharma indices gained upto 2 percent. Nifty IT, Banks, Realty, Energy and FMCG were all up 1 percent each.

Global Markets

Equities in other Asian markets look stronger in early hours on Friday, with MSCI's broadest index outside Japan rising 1.3 percent despite a mixed session on Wall Street overnight.

Oil prices firmed in early trade on Friday but were headed for their first weekly loss in three weeks as worries about inflation and China's COVID lockdowns slowing global growth outweighed concerns about dwindling fuel supply from Russia.

Brent crude futures were up 0.9 percent, at $108.42 a barrel at 0008 GMT.

In the US, the Dow slid 0.33 percent, the S&P 500 fell 0.13 percent, and the Nasdaq closed 0.06 percent higher.

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