<p>Market benchmarks started the trade on a positive note on Friday, with the Sensex climbing 448.68 points, mirroring a bullish trend in global equity markets.</p>.<p>The 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 448.68 points to 54,627.14 in early deals. The broader NSE Nifty went higher by 142.6 points to 16,275.50.</p>.<p>From the Sensex pack, Larsen & Toubro, M&M, Axis Bank, NTPC, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers in early trade.</p>.<p>Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and Titan were among the laggards.</p>.<p>In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the green.</p>.<p>The US markets had ended higher on Thursday.</p>.<p>"The present rally is driven partly by expectations that given the steady decline in commodity prices, inflation will start showing a declining trend enabling central banks to go a bit slow on hiking rates, and partly by short covering," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.</p>.<p>The BSE benchmark climbed 427.49 points or 0.80 per cent to settle at 54,178.46 on Thursday. The Nifty advanced 143.10 points or 0.89 per cent to 16,132.90.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.13 per cent to $104.79 per barrel.</p>.<p>Foreign institutional investors were net sellers on Thursday, offloading shares worth Rs 925.22 crore, as per exchange data.</p>
<p>Market benchmarks started the trade on a positive note on Friday, with the Sensex climbing 448.68 points, mirroring a bullish trend in global equity markets.</p>.<p>The 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 448.68 points to 54,627.14 in early deals. The broader NSE Nifty went higher by 142.6 points to 16,275.50.</p>.<p>From the Sensex pack, Larsen & Toubro, M&M, Axis Bank, NTPC, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers in early trade.</p>.<p>Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and Titan were among the laggards.</p>.<p>In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the green.</p>.<p>The US markets had ended higher on Thursday.</p>.<p>"The present rally is driven partly by expectations that given the steady decline in commodity prices, inflation will start showing a declining trend enabling central banks to go a bit slow on hiking rates, and partly by short covering," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.</p>.<p>The BSE benchmark climbed 427.49 points or 0.80 per cent to settle at 54,178.46 on Thursday. The Nifty advanced 143.10 points or 0.89 per cent to 16,132.90.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.13 per cent to $104.79 per barrel.</p>.<p>Foreign institutional investors were net sellers on Thursday, offloading shares worth Rs 925.22 crore, as per exchange data.</p>