<p>Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied in early trade on Friday helped by buying in Larsen & Toubro post its earnings announcement and a firm trend in the US markets.</p><p>The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rallied 188.11 points to 76,947.92 in early trade, a day before the Union Budget. The NSE Nifty climbed 68.6 points to 23,318.10.</p><p>From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Larsen & Toubro climbed over 3 per cent after the infrastructure and engineering major reported a 14 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,359 crore for the December quarter on the back of higher revenue from operations.</p><p>Titan, Maruti, Adani Ports, Nestle and Power Grid were the other major gainers.</p><p>ITC Hotels, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.</p>.Budget 2025 Expectations| Reduce tax on bank deposits to help provide level playing field with equity markets, says Bank of Baroda's Madan Sabnavis.<p>"The Budget - expectations and actuals - will influence the market today and tomorrow. Since we are going into the Budget without a pre-Budget rally, the probability of a rally, post Budget, will be high if the Budget delivers on growth stimulating initiatives like cuts in personal income tax.</p><p>"But it is important to understand that the impact of the Budget will last only for a few days, at best. The medium to long-term trend of the market will be dictated by GDP and earnings growth," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.</p><p>In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in positive territory, while Seoul quoted lower. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed due to holidays.</p><p>US markets ended in the positive zone on Thursday.</p><p>Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,582.95 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.</p><p>Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.83 per cent to USD 77.51 a barrel.</p><p>The 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 226.85 points or 0.30 per cent to settle at 76,759.81 on Thursday. The Nifty went up by 86.40 points or 0.37 per cent to 23,249.50.</p>
<p>Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied in early trade on Friday helped by buying in Larsen & Toubro post its earnings announcement and a firm trend in the US markets.</p><p>The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rallied 188.11 points to 76,947.92 in early trade, a day before the Union Budget. The NSE Nifty climbed 68.6 points to 23,318.10.</p><p>From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Larsen & Toubro climbed over 3 per cent after the infrastructure and engineering major reported a 14 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,359 crore for the December quarter on the back of higher revenue from operations.</p><p>Titan, Maruti, Adani Ports, Nestle and Power Grid were the other major gainers.</p><p>ITC Hotels, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.</p>.Budget 2025 Expectations| Reduce tax on bank deposits to help provide level playing field with equity markets, says Bank of Baroda's Madan Sabnavis.<p>"The Budget - expectations and actuals - will influence the market today and tomorrow. Since we are going into the Budget without a pre-Budget rally, the probability of a rally, post Budget, will be high if the Budget delivers on growth stimulating initiatives like cuts in personal income tax.</p><p>"But it is important to understand that the impact of the Budget will last only for a few days, at best. The medium to long-term trend of the market will be dictated by GDP and earnings growth," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.</p><p>In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in positive territory, while Seoul quoted lower. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed due to holidays.</p><p>US markets ended in the positive zone on Thursday.</p><p>Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,582.95 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.</p><p>Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.83 per cent to USD 77.51 a barrel.</p><p>The 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 226.85 points or 0.30 per cent to settle at 76,759.81 on Thursday. The Nifty went up by 86.40 points or 0.37 per cent to 23,249.50.</p>