Shares edge higher, Sensex up 152 points at 36,019 in morning hours

Benchmark indices opened higher on Friday following gains in other Asian markets and after Pakistan announced the release of an Indian Air Force pilot which raised hopes of de-escalation in India-Pakistan ties.

However, market experts said the investors will continue to examine the tension between India and Pakistan. There is also uncertainty over the outcome of US-China trade talks which will impact the sentiment globally.

At 11:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up nearly 152 points at 36,019 while the NSE Nifty 50 climbed up 48 points to 10,840 level.

Investors apparently shrugged off the latest economic data which showed the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.6 per cent in the October to December quarter at year-on-year basis after expanding 7 per cent in the previous three months.

Adani Ports, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vedanta, Yes Bank and Hero MotorCorp traded higher while Bharti Airtel plunged over 4 per cent at Rs 305.05. The other losers were Cipla, Dr Reddy Labs, Wipro and Bajaj Auto.

The most active stocks were TCS, Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, Maruti and HDFC Bank.

Meanwhile, Asian markets traded mostly higher, driven by a rally in the Chinese markets after index publisher MSCI said it will quadruple the proportion of mainland shares in its global benchmarks later this year.

That could potentially draw more than 80 billion dollars of fresh foreign inflows to the world's second-biggest economy, experts said.

-ANI