Markets open at fresh high; Nifty above 8,200

Benchmark indices have opened at record high levels on Friday on the back of firm global cues and and heavy FII buying. Also, the government's announcement of FDI norms for real estate sector boosted investor sentiment

At 9:40AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 198 points at 27,544 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 57 points at 8,226.

On Thursday, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of around Rs 1,257.49 crore.

The Indian rupee is trading at Rs 61.36 compared to the previous close of Rs 61.43 after the US Federal Reserve expressed confidence about growth in the economy.

Global Markets:

Asian markets are trading firm on positive cues from US and higher than expected corporate earnings. Nikkei has surged around 1.7% as Japanese government is going to approve targets for the $1.2 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) in order to increase the ratio of Japanese shares in its holding to 25% from current 12%. Hang Seng is up around 0.6% while Shanghai Composite has gained around 0.3%.

US markets rose sharply on better than expected third quarter economic data. Gross domestic product grew at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter while underlying trends of the rate of new applications for unemployment benefits hit its lowest level since May, 2000. Markets were also boosted by another round of strong earnings data from corporates. The Dow Jones gained around 1.3%, the S&P added 0.6% while Nasdaq gained 0.3%.

Sectors & Stocks:

On the sectoral front, BSE IT index is the top gainer up over 1% followed by Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and Healthcare indices up between 0.5-1%. However, BSE Consumer Durables index is losing sheen and is down over 1%.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel is the top lower and isdown 2% after it reported a 170.2 per cent jump in net income during the July-September quarter to Rs 1,383 crore. The company’s highest quarterly profit since March 2011 was backed by a 74 per cent increase in data revenue in India as data volume doubled. Its net profit stood at Rs 512 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The technology pack is trading higher in the early trades post US Federal Reserve Bank's encouraging comments about the US economy. Infosys, TCS and Wipro are up between 1-2%.

The country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), on Thursday reported 29 per cent increase in the net profit to Rs 862 crore for the second quarter ended September, on the back of cost reduction efforts and strong growth in domestic sales. The company had posted net profit of Rs 670 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. The stock is up 1%. However, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto are trading lower on profit taking. M&M is trading with marginal losses on caution ahead of the quarterly results.

Barring ICICI Bank, all financial stocks are trading firm. HDFC twins, SBI and Axis Bank are up between 0.5-1%. ICICI Bank is down over 0.5%. ICICI Bank – the country’s largest private sector lender reported a net profit of Rs 2,709 crore for the quarter ended September 30 which is higher by 15% as compared to the same period of the previous year.

Oil & Gas stocks continue its upward march with GAIL, ONGC and RIL are trading higher between 0.5-0.8%. GAIL is trading higher ahead of the quarterly results due later during the day.

Cigarette maker and Index heavyweight ITC is trading 1% higher ahead of the Q2 results.

Engineering conglomerate L&T is up 15 after the government has relaxed the norms for allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the construction development sector.

Sun Pharma, Cipla and Dr Reddy’s Lab are some of the notable names in green among others.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices are up 0.5%, each.

Market breadth is very strong with 1,175 gainers and 347 losers on the BSE.