MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded in early trade on Friday after falling for three consecutive sessions, supported by value buying in IT stocks and gains in index bellwether Reliance Industries shares.
However, gains remained modest as soaring crude oil prices amid escalating tensions in West Asia dampened investors' sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 187.68 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 73,437.07 in the morning trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty rose 11.10 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 22,698.75.
Tata Consultancy Services jumped over 3 per cent to emerge as the biggest gainer among Sensex constituents.
Infosys, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharmaceuticals, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints and ITC also traded higher.
Tata Steel, Titan, Adani Ports, Bharat Electronics Ltd, IndiGo, Mahindra & Mahindra, Trent, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India, Hindustan Unilever, and PowerGrid were among the laggards.
"Indian equities are traded higher on Friday. However, rising crude oil prices amid West Asian tensions could limit the domestic market's recovery despite the positive opening signal," said Hitesh Tailor, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Broking.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, said the surge in crude oil prices touching USD 114 per barrel was a major negative for the economy and markets, however, easing US bond yields and appreciation in the rupee could help restrain foreign fund outflows.
He added that funds returning to the system following the Jio Platforms IPO allotment could support equities, with large-cap stocks likely to lead any recovery, while weakness in small-cap stocks could persist.
Asian markets were largely lower, with South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark and Shanghai's SSE Composite Index trading in the red.
However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng benchmark was trading higher. US equity markets ended lower in overnight deals on Thursday.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose nearly 1 per cent to trade above USD 114 per barrel.
Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,458.70 crore on Thursday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,891.32 crore, according to the exchange data.
On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 460.30 points to close at 73,249.39, while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 123.70 points to settle at 22,687.65, extending their slide to third straight session.