NEW DELHI: Domestic shares opened on a firm note on Thursday as both headline indices gained big in opening deals.

At 09:25 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading 178 points or 0.50 per cent higher at 35,497.36. ICICI Bank emerges as the best index performer and was trading 2 per cent higher whereas Dr Reddy's was the worst laggard and was down 1 per cent.

The NSE Nifty50 index was trading 40 points higher at 10,781.35, with 34 constituents in the green and 14 in the red.

Among specific stocks, shares of Kerala-based Federal Bank plunged over 10 per cent after the lender reported a 44 per cent YoY drop in net profit in the March quarter on account of a sharp rise in provisions for bad loans.

At 09:33 am, shares of the bank were trading at Rs 90.70 apiece, down 10.33 per cent.

Future Retail climbed over 4 per cent after reports that the company was looking to sell at least 10 per cent stake to a global retailer.

“I will sell a minority stake to the strongest global retailer,” Future Group founder Kishore Biyani told ET on Wednesday without divulging any names. At 09:36 am, shares of the company were trading at Rs 597.50 apiece, up 4 per cent.

Asian Paints was trading flat at Rs 1,227.75 apiece ahead of its Q4 results.

In the sectoral landscape, all indices were trading in the green, except realty pack. The Nifty Realty index was trading 0.30 points or 0.09 per cent lower at 316.65. On the contrary, the Nifty IT index was trading 81 points or 0.60 per cent higher at 13,534 with 8 out of 12 constituents in the green and 2 in the red.

On the global front, Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with energy shares leading the way as crude oil prices bolted higher after US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.5 per cent.

US stocks advanced on Wednesday as a surge in oil prices boosted energy stocks following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from a nuclear deal with Iran.