NEW DELHI: Punjab National Bank (number of shares traded: 0.56 crore), Ashok Leyland (0.54 crore) and State Bank of India (0.41 crore) were among the most active stocks in terms of volume on NSE in morning trade on Friday.

Vedanta (0.34 crore), ICICI Bank (0.27 crore), SAIL (0.26 crore), PFC (0.21 crore), Hindalco Industries (0.21 crore), YES Bank (0.19 crore), Tata Steel (0.18 crore), REC (0.16 crore) and Bank of Baroda (0.16 crore) were also among the most active stocks in terms of volume on NSE.

Benchmark indices gained on Friday in tune with other Asian markets as fears of trade wars receded after the US softened its stance on import tariff on steel and aluminium by exempting its partners and hinted at a possibility of alternatives for other countries.

This decision came in after the US President last week talked about "no-exceptions". Markets world over took it as a sign that the country does not want escalated trade wars.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 26 points up at 10,269, while the BSE Sensex was up 87 points at 33,438 around 09:45 am (IST).

Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty50 index, 34 were in the green, while 16 were in the red.

Aurobindo Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers in the Nifty pack of stocks.

However, NTPC, State Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, YES Bank, Power Grid Corporation of India and Coal India were among the top losers in the Nifty index.