Nifty hits record peak in early trade on Friday

New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Friday, with the Nifty reaching its fresh all-time peak, following a rally in shares of Bajaj Finance and positive trends from the US markets.

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From the Sensex basket, Bajaj Finance jumped 6 percent, while Bajaj Finserv climbed nearly 5 percent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted restrictions on Bajaj Finance on sanctioning and disbursal of loans through eCOM and Insta EMI Card, the company said in a regulatory on Thursday.

In November last year, the central bank had directed Bajaj Finance to stop sanction and disbursal of loans under its two lending products -- eCOM and Insta EMI Card -- due to the company's non-adherence to the extant provisions of digital lending guidelines.

"The removal of restrictions on Bajaj Finance's eCOM adds to the upbeat market sentiment. Investors are eagerly awaiting the US jobs report for April and keeping an eye on Q4 corporate earnings from India Inc," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

NTPC, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and JSW Steel were the other major gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory while Shanghai quoted lower.

"Global and domestic cues are positive for the markets. The decline in dollar index to 105.3, correction in the US 10-year bond yield to around 4.5 percent and Brent crude below USD 84 a barrel will further strengthen the bulls.

"The strong pillar of support for this market is the strong buying by DIIs facilitated by the sustained flow of funds," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.33 percent to USD 83.95 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark climbed 128.33 points or 0.17 percent to settle at 74,611.11 on Thursday. The NSE Nifty went up by 43.35 points or 0.19 percent to 22,648.20.

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