Among the stocks that gained were Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, State Bank and Sun Pharma.

IT stocks gained after Cognizant reported a decent financial performance, though the stock is not listed on the domestic bourses.

Shares from the space that rallied included TCS, Wipro and HCL. Cement major ACC dropped by 1.5 per cent after the company reported a lower than expected profit after tax. NTPC continued to fall after the company's share sale by the government was over subscribed.

GAIL rallied after the company said it has signed a preliminary agreement with French energy trader EDF Trading for jointly acquiring oil and gas assets in North America and trading of US gas/LNG.

PSU banking stocks that dropped sharply in trade on Thursday recovered some ground. Among the stocks that gained from the sector were Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Union Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Oriental Bank.

Canara Bank was also trading higher ahead of its results to be declared later today. Shares of Great Eastern Shipping jumped more than 4 per cent after the company reported a two-fold increase in its net profits.

UFLEX on the other hand fell 3 per cent after the company's results disappointed investors. Real Estate stocks were trading deeply in the red with stocks like Oberoi Realty, DLF and IndiaBulls dropping.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were all trading higher led by strong gains in the Chinese and Korean markets. Indian markets are expected to take cues from the Union Budget and are expected to move sideways till the budget is presented.

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