Sensex up 72.31 points, Nifty up 9,435.65 in morning trade

The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE's) Sensex was up 72.31 points and currently pegged at 30, 320.48, while the Nifty opened at a fresh record high of 9. 435.65 points on Thursday morning.

Media reports said equity benchmarks were performing positively performance and added that indices have opened comfortably above their new milestones.

So far, by 9.15 a.m., 629 shares had advanced against a decline of 172 shares, while 45 shares remained unchanged.

Midcaps and banks gained around half a percent, along with the IT index.

At the time of the filing of the report, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Zee Entertainment are the top gainers, while Bharti Airtel and HUL are losers.

A moneycontrol.com report further stated that HCL Technologies was up over one percent following its better than expected quarter four results, while Zee Entertainment had gained three percent on the back of strong March quarter performance.

It further stated that Asian indexes were cautiously higher in early Thursday trade, following a mixed close stateside as investors noted Snap's USD 2.2 billion loss, and monitored potential fallout on President Donald Trump's policies after FBI Director James Comey was fired.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.2 percent while South Korea's benchmark Kospi index was up 0.55 percent on Thursday. The ASX 200 has gained 0.04 percent in early trade.

The stock markets in the United States have so far put in a mixed performance owing to the abrupt dismissal of the FBI chief and other factors. The Dow Jones industrial average lost ground, while the Nasdaq closed at a record high.

Gold was steady early on Thursday; holding just above eight-week lows hit earlier this week.U.S. gold futures were also steady at USD 1,219.10 an ounce.