The domestic equity benchmarks edged higher in early trade, mirroring the gains in their Asian peers. The bourses witnessed strong buying in key index pivotals. The Nifty hovered near the 16,300 mark. IT, banks, financials and auto stocks led the charge.

At 09:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 440.13 points or 0.81% to 54,692.66. The Nifty 50 index added 128.70 points or 0.80% to 16,298.85.

Tech Mahindra (up 3.24%), Infosys (up 2.99%), HCL Tech (up 2.93%), Wipro (up 2.68%) and IndusInd Bank (up 2.38%) were the top Nifty gainers.

ONGC (down 2.44%), Asian Paints (down 1.06%), NTPC (down 0.84%) and Power Grid Corp (down 0.73%) were the top Nifty laggards.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.14% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.36%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,908 shares rose and 463 shares fell. A total of 87 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hindalco Industries advanced 2.01%. The company's consolidated net profit surged to Rs 3851 crore in Q4 March 2022 from Rs 1928 crore in Q4 March 2021. Revenue from operations rose to Rs 55764 crore from Rs 40507 crore.

Bharti Airtel added 0.50%. Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Baa3 issuer rating to Bharti Airtel. Moody's has changed the outlook on the ratings to stable from positive.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises rose 1.98%. The company's consolidated net profit dropped 34% to Rs 1819 crore in Q4 March 2022 from Rs 2758 crore in Q4 March 2021. Operating revenue rose 18.2% to Rs 23229 crore from Rs 19658 crore.

Muthoot Finance slumped 7.31%. The company's consolidated net profit fell to Rs 1,006.2 crore in Q4 March 2022 from Rs 1,023.7 crore in Q4 March 2021. Total income fell to Rs 3,041.1 crore from Rs 3,118.9 crore.

Berger Paints India shed 0.15%. The company's consolidated net profit rose 5.6% to Rs 220.29 crore in Q4 March 2022 from Rs 208.60 crore in Q4 March 2021. Revenue from operations rose 7.97% to Rs 2187.51 crore from Rs 2026.09 crore.

Global markets:

Asian markets advanced across the board on Friday, with investors monitoring shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong after the Chinese tech giant posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday.

Chinese authorities held an unprecedented nationwide meeting via teleconference on Wednesday in a bid to bolster an economy battered by Covid, with Premier Li Keqiang warning of difficulties “even greater than the severe shock of the pandemic in 2020.”

Wall Street closed sharply higher on Thursday after optimistic retail earnings outlooks and waning concerns about overly aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve put investors in a buying mood.

On the data front, revised figures showed the world's biggest economy contracted at an annualised rate of 1.5% in the first quarter, slightly worse than the previous estimate of 1.4%.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 210,000 for the week ended May 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

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