<p>Equity benchmark Sensex pared opening losses to turn positive in early trade on Friday amid gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys and SBI.</p>.<p>After starting over 250 points lower, the 30-share index made a U-turn to rise over 70 points to 31,005.19.</p>.<p>The index, turned choppy in the first hour of trade ahead of Reserve Bank of India's press conference, scheduled for 1000 hours.</p>.<p>NSE Nifty was quoting 4.35 points or 0.05 per cent lower at 9,101.90.</p>.<p>Buying in Reliance Industries offset the negative sentiment in the market as the scrip jumped over 1 per cent after the company announced the sale of a 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to US private equity giant KKR for Rs 11,367 crore.</p>.<p>This the fifth deal in four weeks that will inject a combined Rs 78,562 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt.</p>.<p>UltraTech Cement, SBI, Infosys, Tech Mahindra were among the other gainers.</p>.<p>On the other hand, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, PowerGrid and NTPC were among the laggards.</p>.<p>In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 114.29 points or 0.37 per cent up at 30,932.90, while the broader Nifty advanced 39.70 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 9,106.25.</p>.<p>Foreign portfolio investors offloaded equities worth Rs 258.73 crore in the capital market on Thursday, provisional exchange data showed.</p>.<p>Besides stock-specific action, investors are cautious ahead of Reserve Bank of India's announcement, traders said.</p>.<p>Further, weak cues from global markets and spiking COVID-19 cases in the country hit investor sentiment, they added.</p>.<p>India witnessed the biggest single-day spike with 6,088 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 1.18 lakh. The death toll rose to 3,583, according to the health ministry.</p>.<p>Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 51 lakh and the death toll has topped 3.32 lakh.</p>.<p>Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading significantly lower.</p>.<p>Hong Kong led a sell-off across Asian equities after China introduced proposals to enact a national security law for the city.</p>.<p>Stock exchanges on Wall Street ended with losses in overnight session.</p>.<p>International oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 3.72 per cent lower at USD 34.72 per barrel.</p>
<p>Equity benchmark Sensex pared opening losses to turn positive in early trade on Friday amid gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys and SBI.</p>.<p>After starting over 250 points lower, the 30-share index made a U-turn to rise over 70 points to 31,005.19.</p>.<p>The index, turned choppy in the first hour of trade ahead of Reserve Bank of India's press conference, scheduled for 1000 hours.</p>.<p>NSE Nifty was quoting 4.35 points or 0.05 per cent lower at 9,101.90.</p>.<p>Buying in Reliance Industries offset the negative sentiment in the market as the scrip jumped over 1 per cent after the company announced the sale of a 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to US private equity giant KKR for Rs 11,367 crore.</p>.<p>This the fifth deal in four weeks that will inject a combined Rs 78,562 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt.</p>.<p>UltraTech Cement, SBI, Infosys, Tech Mahindra were among the other gainers.</p>.<p>On the other hand, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, PowerGrid and NTPC were among the laggards.</p>.<p>In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 114.29 points or 0.37 per cent up at 30,932.90, while the broader Nifty advanced 39.70 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 9,106.25.</p>.<p>Foreign portfolio investors offloaded equities worth Rs 258.73 crore in the capital market on Thursday, provisional exchange data showed.</p>.<p>Besides stock-specific action, investors are cautious ahead of Reserve Bank of India's announcement, traders said.</p>.<p>Further, weak cues from global markets and spiking COVID-19 cases in the country hit investor sentiment, they added.</p>.<p>India witnessed the biggest single-day spike with 6,088 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 1.18 lakh. The death toll rose to 3,583, according to the health ministry.</p>.<p>Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 51 lakh and the death toll has topped 3.32 lakh.</p>.<p>Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading significantly lower.</p>.<p>Hong Kong led a sell-off across Asian equities after China introduced proposals to enact a national security law for the city.</p>.<p>Stock exchanges on Wall Street ended with losses in overnight session.</p>.<p>International oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 3.72 per cent lower at USD 34.72 per barrel.</p>