Indices open in green, BSE Sensex breaches 40,000 mark, Nifty near 12,000

Indices opened green with BSE Sensex breaching 40,000 mark and Nifty nearing 12,000. In morning trade, the Sensex was up 149.96 points or 0.38% at 39981.93, and the Nifty up 60.40 points or 0.51% at 12006.30. About 530 shares advanced, 311 shares declined, and 46 shares were unchanged. Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, Coal India, HPCL, Berger Paints, IndiGo and Tata Steel were among top gainers. The Indian rupee gained in the early trade on Friday. It has opened higher by 11 paise at 69.76 per dollar versus Thursday's close 69.87.

On the other hand, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, NTPC, Vedanta, M&M and RIL were the top losers, shedding up to 0.32 per cent. "Indian markets seem to be defying gravity as they continue to rally. The positive sentiments are driven by investors conviction in current government's ability to drive strong growth," said Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management.

The Indian market has significantly outperformed its emerging market peers in anticipation of positive election outcome and strong foreign flows and further moves are likely to be determined by policy initiatives, budget and RBI monetary policy, he added.

The Friday opening trade is better as compared to yesterday. On Thursday, markets opened flat while ended on a positive note after jumping around 329.92 at 39,832 points and the Nifty rallied 84.80 points to end at 11,945.90. Investors are also cautious ahead of the expiry of May futures and options (F&O) contracts, traders said.

According to Narendra Solanki, Head Fundamental Research (Investment Services) - AVP Equity Research, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers, the market currently waiting for new government to form and is more likely waiting for policy guidance and follow up announcements on same.

NTPC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.44 per cent. Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, TCS, HDFC twins, Yes Bank and RIL too gained up to 2.33 per cent.

While, Sun Pharma, M&M, ONGC, IndusInd Bank and Vedanta fell up to 2.39 per cent.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 304.27 crore on Wednesday and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) offloaded shares to the tune of Rs 189.58 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Asian bourses ended on a mixed note, while Europe was trading in the green in opening deals.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee was trading 5 paise lower at 69.88 against the US dollar. Brent crude, the global benchmark, slipped 0.06 per cent to 67.83 per barrel.