Indian benchmarks opened the day on a positive note on Friday ahead of the crucial goods & services tax (GST) meet due later in the day. Various sectors, including automobiles and biscuit manufacturers, have been demanding a rate cut to arrest a slowdown in sales.

Top gainers on the D-street included, Yes Bank, HDGC Bank, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Indiabulls Housing, Eicher Motors, RIL and Bajaj Finance among others, while the laggards included Zee Ent, Axis Bank, Coal India, Power Grid and GAIL.

At 9:35 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 36203.54 up by 110.07 points or by 0.3 % and then NSE Nifty was at 10731.65 up by 26.85 points or by 0.25 %. Sensex touched intraday high of 36250.43 and intraday low of 36092.86 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 10746.8 and intraday low of 10691.

Among the sectors, Auto index was at 15670 up by 121.4 points or by 0.78%. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 6036.55,+1.65%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 2562.25,+1.18%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 525.00,+1.10%), Eicher Motors Ltd. (Rs. 15919.50,+1.02%), Bajaj Auto Ltd. (Rs. 2757.65,+0.70%),.

Power index was at 1884.83 down by -20.92 points or by -1.1%. NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 119.40,-1.93%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 197.80,-1.67%), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (Rs. 46.90,-1.16%), Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. (Rs. 35.70,-0.83%), Torrent Power Ltd. (Rs. 278.00,-0.80%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 1373 , shares advanced were 667 while 644 shares declined and 62 were unchanged.