The key equity indices continued to extend gains in mid-morning trade. The Nifty marched above the 18,400 level. IT stocks saw buying demand for the third consecutive trading session. At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 314.57 points or 0.51% to 62,187.19. The Nifty 50 index added 92.15 points or 0.50% to 18,413.30. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.38% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.40%. The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,972 shares rose and 1,310 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 1.16% to 29,263.45. The index added 1.35% in three trading sessions.

Mphasis (up 2.13%), Persistent Systems (up 1.78%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.72%), LTI Mindtree (up 1.54%), L&T Technology Services (up 1.46%), Coforge (up 1.43%), HCL Technologies (up 1.43%), Wipro (up 1.34%), Infosys (up 1.12%) and Tata Consultancy Services (up 0.48%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Emami rose 1.22%. The company reported 59.4% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 144.43 crore in Q4 FY23 as compared with Rs 355.96 crore in Q4 FY22. Revenue from operations rose 8.5% year on year to Rs 835.95 crore in Q4 FY23.

Mishra Dhatu Nigam slumped 3.75% after the company reported 18% fall in net profit to Rs 66.12 crore despite a 7% rise in topline to Rs 344.57 crore in Q4 FY23 as compared with Q4 FY22.

Radico Khaitan declined 0.51% after the liquor maker's standalone net profit slipped 19.6% to Rs 37.26 crore in Q4 FY23 as against Rs 46.36 crore recorded in Q4 FY22. Net revenue from operations was at Rs 831.84 crore during the quarter, up 2.4% from Rs 812.52 crore reported in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Global markets:

Asian stocks mostly advanced on Friday, apart from standout gains in Japan, as an artificial intelligence rally took a breather and as time ticked out on high-stakes talks to avoid a U.S. debt default.

Wall Street ended sharply higher on Thursday after a blowout forecast from Nvidia sent the chipmaker's stock soaring and fueled a rally in AI-related companies, while investors watched for signs of progress in U.S. debt ceiling talks.

US Republican negotiators on Thursday said some progress had been made in debt-ceiling talks, though a deal has not yet been reached.