MUMBAI: Indian equity benchmarks opened on a flat note on Friday, October 30, tracking cautious global sentiment and elevated crude oil prices. The Sensex opened at 74,199.69, up 48.65 points or 0.07 per cent from Thursday's close of 74,151.04, while the Nifty opened at 22,964.50, up 27.75 points or 0.12 per cent, The Hindu BusinessLine and New Kerala reported.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

In early trade, the Sensex advanced 138.77 points to 74,289.81 and the Nifty gained 38.95 points, news agency PTI reported at 9:33 am. The rupee also rose 7 paise to 95.19 against the US dollar in early trade, PTI said.

Source: PTI via Dailyworld

IT stocks did the heavy lifting. The Nifty IT index gained over 1 per cent in early trade — and 1.60 per cent by mid-morning — with Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS and HCLTech among the gainers, while consumer durables and cement indices fell nearly 1 per cent each. Trent led the Nifty gainers, surging 5.48 per cent to Rs 3,018.40, followed by Sun Pharma and Infosys, BusinessLine reported.

Source: DNB India

Crude remained the big headwind. Brent crude was trading above $115 a barrel — with market commentary putting it near $117 — and WTI above $103, on Gulf and Hormuz supply risks. "The crude headwind is getting stronger with Brent rising above $117 a barrel," Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, said, adding that foreign selling had turned weak with only occasional buying.

On Thursday, foreign institutional investors were net sellers with outflows of Rs 943 crore, snapping a two-session buying streak, while domestic institutional investors bought a net Rs 1,924 crore for a second straight session. Investors are also tracking quarterly results from Reliance Industries and Jio Platforms due later on Friday, which could set the market's near-term direction.