The Indian benchmark indices were trading in the positive territory with the Nifty adding 19.80 points or 0.19 percent while the Sensex gained 68 points and was trading at 33642. The midcap index outperformed, adding 0.3 percent in the morning trade led by Jain Irrigation, Just Dial, Syndicate Bank and Voltas.
The top Nifty gainers were Bharti Airtel which jumped 2.57 percent after the stock hit fresh 52-week high on Thursday. Axis Bank was up over 2 percent while ONGC, Ambuja Cements and Hindalco were the other top gainers. The most active stocks apart from Bharti Airtel were PNB, Idea Cellular, Axis Bank and Vedanta.
From the BSE, the top performers were Hathway Cable which zoomed close to 20 percent followed by Den Network which jumped 7.52 percent. GE T&D, GHCL and Parag Milk were the other top Sensex gainers on Friday morning trade.
As many as 62 stocks hit new 52-week high on the NSE including 8K Miles Software, Adani Ports, Bharat Forge, Bharti Airtel, Edelweiss Financial, Godrej Properties, Titan Company, Vedanta and Welspun Corp.
The stocks which hit fresh 52-week high on the BSE included Page Industries, Excel Crop Care, HEG, Camphor & Allied, DIL, Power Mech Projects, Graphite India and Bimetal Bearing.
The market breadth was healthy in the Friday morning trade with 997 stocks advancing while 530 declined. On the BSE, 1182 stocks advanced while 673 declined.
Global research firm CLSA has retained a buy on Vedanta and has raise the target to Rs 405 while Macquarie has maintained an outperform rating on the stock with target at Rs 372 per share.
Technical Analyst Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com has a buy on Godrej Properties with a stop loss of Rs 716, target of Rs 740 and a buy on Edelweiss Financial Services with a stop loss of Rs 295 for target of Rs 312.
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