Equity benchmarks climbed in initial trade on Friday after declining in the past two trading sessions amid positive trend in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 80.16 points to 60,433.43. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 26.1 points to 18,018.25.

From the Sensex pack, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, ITC, Nestle, Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Wipro and Bharti Airtel were the major winners.

Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank and HDFC were the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green.

Markets in the US had ended lower on Thursday.

The BSE benchmark had ended 304.18 points or 0.50 per cent lower at 60,353.27 on Thursday. The Nifty dipped 50.80 points or 0.28 per cent to end at 17,992.15.

International oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.23 per cent to USD 79.66 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,449.45 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

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