Indian shares rose in the early morning trades led by value-buying in telecom and software stocks after falling for five trading sessions.
At 10:40AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex gained 61 points to 18,531.20 while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty index added 12 points to 5,642.05.
Indian rupee traded lower against US dollar tracking weak Asian currencies. The pair was at Rs 55.01/$1 comapred to previous close of Rs 54.70/$1
Global markets ended flat on looming 'fiscal cliff' fears in US that may lead to impending tax hikes and automatic government spending cuts if governmnet fails to reach a settelemnt with the Congress before year end.
Investors, will therefore be cautious ahead of today's meeting between President Barack Obama and Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress over deficit reduction.
Global risk appetite was also frail on reports that Europe has slipped into second recession that may further excerbate the global growth recovery.
The Dow Jones industrial average declined 29 points, or 0.23%, to 12,542 at the close. The Nasdaq dropped 10 points, or 0.35%, to 2,837. The S&P 500 lost 2 points, or 0.16%, to 1,353.
Asian shares steadied on Friday after falling nearly 2% this week amid concerns about the looming US "fiscal cliff", while Japanese stocks rallied for a second day on expectations of further monetary policy easing after an election next month.
Domestic markets stayed firm on Friday. The top sector gainers on BSE were real-esate, technology and metals which moved up nearly 1% while automobile sector led the declines booking a loss of 0.2%.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel and Idea rose over 2% while Reliance Industries, the second-most weighted stock on Sensex gained 0.3% in the morning trades.
Bharti Airtel extended its about 6% rally in past three trading sessions, on reports that telecom regulator TRAI was asked to revise price for airwaves unsold in this week’s 2G spectrum auction.
Among other key gainers, Infosys, country's second-biggest software exporter gained 1.6% , Larsen & Toubro, the biggest constrcution company in India rose 1% while Jindal Steel rose 2% on BSE.
The broader markets traded up with the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trading higher in the range of 0.4-0.6% .
The overall breadth was positive as 1,212 stocks advanced while 808 declined.