Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty climbed in early trade on Friday amid buying in bank stocks and a largely firm trend in the Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 311.48 points to 78,783.96 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 98.1 points to 23,848.30.

From the 30 blue-chip pack, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank were among the biggest gainers.

HCL Technologies, Adani Ports, Tata Consultancy Services and Larsen & Toubro were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded higher while Seoul quoted lower.

US markets ended on a flat note on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded marginally up by 0.01 per cent to USD 73.27 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,376.67 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark dipped 0.39 points to settle at 78,472.48 in a muted trade on Thursday. The Nifty eked out gains of 22.55 points or 0.1 per cent to 23,750.20.

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