The 30-share index, BSE Sensex was trading in a powerful manner since morning as heavy buying action was witnessed across banking, real estate, capital goods, power, metal and IT stocks.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index gained 1.96% & 1.44% respectively.

The BSE Sensex today (August 29) opened with a gain of 230.68 points at 14,279.02.

At present (12:54 pm), the 30-share index Sensex stood at 14,513.92, up 465.58 points, after hitting a high of 14,549.57 and a low of 14,279.02.

Indian equities closed on a negative note on Thursday, Aug 28 because of intense selling pressure witnessed across capital goods and oil & gas stocks on August series F&O expiry day.

In the meantime, some profit booking was also seen in heavyweights including RIL, RComm, Hindalco and increasing crude oil rates in global market also weighed down the reaction of the stock market.

After starting the day on a pessimistic note at 14,289.97, down 6.82 points, the stock index remained weak during the whole day.

Tokyo - Stocks rose more than 2 per cent Friday as the Tokyo market sentiment improved thanks to overnight gains on Wall Street and Japan's July industrial output data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 279.37 points, or 2.19 per cent, to 13,047.62.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 27.96 points, or 2.29 per cent, to 1,247.49.

Japanese industrial production in July grew 0.9 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms, compared to the previous month, the government said Friday.

Washington (dpa) - Wall Street rallied Thursday as strong exports fueled a sharp upward revision in the government's estimated of second-quarter economic growth.

The broad rally saw five listings gaining value for every stock that lost on the New York Stock Exchange. Nine of the 10 industry groups within the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose in Thursday trading.

The Commerce Department, revising its initial estimate of 1.9 per cent, announced Thursday that the US gross domestic product expanded in the April-June period at an annualized rate of 3.3 per cent.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks slumped nearly 2.3 per cent Thursday as pessimism gripped the market amid concerns over the earnings outlook of some big companies.

The Hang Seng Index lost 492.43 points to end the day at 20,972.29 points, down 2.29 per cent on Wednesday's close. Turnover was a relatively light 66.7 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The fall in prices comes after a strong week and was led by heavyweight stocks Esprit Holdings, PetroChina and China Mobile which disappointed investors with their earnings.

Tokyo - Japanese shares were slightly higher Thursday following gains on Wall Street overnight.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 7.04 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 12,760.00.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 3.28 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 1,220.41.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 109.40-45 yen, up from Wednesday's 5 pm quote of 109.01-02 yen.