Domestic stock markets started Thursday's session on a higher note, ahead of release of economic growth data for the December quarter.
The Sensex rose as much as 180.42 points to 36,085.85 in early trade, and the Nifty moved to 10,865.70, up 59.05 points from the previous close.
Advances in pharma, FMCG and energy stocks supported the markets.At 9:26 am, the Sensex traded 150.89 points higher at 36,056.32, while the Nifty was up 38.30 points at 10,844.95.Indian Oil, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and Coal India- trading between 1.31 per cent and 1.42 per cent higher - were the top gainers on the 50-scrip benchmark index at the time.Analysts awaited the release of key macroeconomic data later in the day.The government is due to release GDP or gross domestic product data for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 later in the day.
According to a median forecast from more than 55 economists polled by Reuters on February 19-25, the country's GDP growth stood at 6.9 per cent in the October-December quarter - its slowest pace in over a year.Infrastructure production data for the month of January is also due on the same day.Meanwhile, equities in other Asian marketsstruggled for traction after cautious comments from US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer deflated some optimism that China and the US were closing in on a trade deal.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped in and out of the red, while South Korea's KOSPI shed 0.25 per cent and Japan's Nikkei lost 0.35 per cent.Mr Lighthizer said on Wednesday that it was too early to predict an outcome in talks between Washington and Beijing.The United States' issues with China are "too serious" to be resolved with promises from Beijing to purchase more US goods and any deal between the two countries must include a way to ensure commitments are met, he told US lawmakers.(With inputs from Reuters)