The Indian equity benchmark indices opened higher on Friday following positive cues from the Asian markets. The indices had closed nearly 1 percent lower in the previous session. At 9:15 am, the Sensex opened 0.5 percent or 145 points higher at 59,875. Nifty50 index held the 17,800-mark -- up 85 points or 0.5 percent.

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The broader market indices were trading higher as well, with midcaps up half a percent. Among sectoral gauges, Nifty Pharma and healthcare indices were in the red, while most other sectors were trading in the green.

Bluechips leading the gains on the Nifty50 index were ONGC, Titan, ICICI Bank, Grasim, BPCL. Leading the losses were Dr Reddy, HDFC, Cipla, Airtel, and HCL Tech.

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Globally, Asian shares snapped two days of losses on Friday, climbing as investors waited to see whether US jobs data due later in the day would reinforce the need for faster US interest rate hikes.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 percent, boosted by a over 1 percent gain in the Australian benchmark. However, Japan's Nikkei gave up early gains to slip half a percent.

Nasdaq futures rose as much as half a percent in earlier Asian trading before giving up some gains to trade 0.25 percent higher. And S&P 500 e-mini stock futures also advanced 0.17 percent.

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A key market driver this week has been the rise in US yields following the publishing of the Federal Reserve's December minutes, a Reuters report said.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was last at 1.7211 percent having reached 1.7530 percent overnight, the highest since April 2021. In currency markets, higher yields meant the dollar index, which measures the greenback against six peers, has risen 0.63 percent this week.

Oil prices rallied, which some analysts linked to news that Russian paratroopers had arrived to quell unrest in Kazakhstan, though production in the OPEC+ producer country remains largely unaffected so far. Both the benchmarks surged over half a percent, as Brent crude futures rose to $82.48 and the US crude rose to $79.96.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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