Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank contributed the most to the advances on Sensex

Domestic stock markets started Thursday's session on a positive note, shrugging off losses in Asian peers where equities fell on renewed worries about the US-China trade conflict. The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 89.89 points to 37,204.77 in early trade, and the NSE Nifty went to 11,184.55, up 27.55 points from the previous close. Advances in information technology, energy and media stocks supported the markets however losses in pharmaceutical shares capped the upside.

At 9:38, the Sensex traded 77.74 points - or 0.21 per cent - higher at 37,192.62 while the Nifty was up 22.70 points - or 0.20 per cent - at 11,179.70.

Top gainers on the 50-scrip benchmark index at the time were Tata Motors, Bharti Infratel, Zee Entertainment, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance and Wipro, trading between 1.33 per cent and 2.66 per cent higher.

Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank contributed the most to the advances on Sensex.

Equities in other Asian markets fell after the US hit Chinese telecoms giant Huawei with severe sanctions, threatening to further strain China-US trade ties. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.2 per cent, hovering not far off its lowest since late January.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.6 per cent while South Korean shares also lost 0.6%, and Chinese blue chips were down 0.2 per cent.

Asian shares had steadied in early trade on news that US President Donald Trump was planning to delay tariffs on auto imports, providing much needed relief to markets hit by a flare-up in trade tensions and weak US and Chinese economic data.

The Sensex and Nifty had ended 0.55 per cent and 0.58 per cent lower on Wednesday.

(With inputs from Reuters)