This is how the markets opened today

Indian stocks resumed their upward trajectory on Friday as strong overnight gains on Wall Street strengthened local traders to take long positions ahead of a string of blue chip earnings on Dalaal Street.

The Nifty jumped 57 points to trade at 8,308, its highest since August 21st. Cairn, Tatat Steel, NTPC, ONGC and GAIL leading the gainers pack. Losses were seen on Idea, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and Dr. Reddy's on the Nifty where the Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 41/9.

Axis Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries were the top traded stocks on the National Stock Exchange.

Sentiment was bullish in the wider market as well with the CNX 100, CNX 200 and CNX 500 indices gaining 0.7 percent each. Strong upticks were seen on the mid cap and the small cap sectors too. The sectoral space was positive too with benchmarks representing the Energy, Banking and Realty sectors exhibiting smart gains. But slight pull backs were seen on indices tracking the software and the media space.

The mood was equally upbeat on the Bombay Stock Exchange where the Sensex surged 221 points, or 0.8 percent, to 27,511 points. NTPC, Reliance Industries, HDFC and Lupin showed strong upticks while Dr. Reddy's slipped in trade.

The Sensex saw 24 shares gaining compared with 6 that lost their footing in early deals. Reliance Industries, ITC and Vedanta were the top traded counters on the BSE.

Bulls were in total command of the wider market with 1,308 shares gaining compared with 559 that slipped below Wednesday's closing prices.

The mood was festive in the derivatives space where 123 futures rose versus 41 that slipped. Hectic buying activity was observed in cement, FMCG, Energy and Pharma futures. Strong gains were witnessed on Syndicate Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance ad Shriram Transport Finance while M&M Finance, Castrol and Bharti Infratel slipped in trade.

Nilkamal, KPIT Technologies, NELCO and Prabhat Dairy were some on the stocks that shone on the volume buzzers list on the NSE.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)