FIRST TRADE: Equities open higher tracking Asian markets; Sensex up 241 pts, Nifty at 25,066

Indian equities on the weekly expiry opened higher tracking gains in the Asian markets. At the open, Nifty was up 0.34 per cent or 84.1 points higher at 25,066.5, while the Sensex was up 0.3 per cent or 241.22 points at 81,708.32 points.

Sectorally, broad-based buying was seen with only the pharma space witnessing profit booking. In the previous session, Nifty Pharma index marked its fresh 52-week high.

Meanwhile, while Bank Nifty traded with mild gains, broader markets fared well in comparison to the frontline indices, with Nifty Smallcap 100 index up over 0.6 per cent at the last count.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said," investors should learn from the growth of the Tata empire that a long-term investment horizon is required to really participate in the wealth creation that happens through the capital market. In a bull market like the present one, there will always be valuation concerns. But great companies like the ones Ratan Tata built will create wealth for investors in the long run".

Tata Group's top listed by m-cap TCS ahead of its Q2 results and after the death of the group's Chairman Emirutus traded with mild gains at Rs 4,267.1 apiece on the BSE.

Meanwhile, Asian markets largely traded in the green, with Hang Seng leading with over 3 per cent gains. The gains in the China's stocks were spurred as the China's bank kicked off its 500 billion yuan facility. Also, dollar continued to trade near its 2-month high ahead of the US inflation later in the day.