Key Indian stock indices landed in positive territory on Friday, January 24 as investors await the Union Budget, which is scheduled for release on February 1 and is expected to provide for economic stimulus. Moreover, a new batch of corporate earnings came into the spotlight. The external backdrop was favorable as Asian equities closed to the upside, while European benchmarks were trading in the green. In sectoral terms, banking names outperformed, while IT stocks were out of favor. Recapping the benchmarks, the Nifty 50 rose 0.56% to 12,248.25, and the BSE Sensex advanced 0.55% to 41,613.19. By 10:16 GMT, the USD/INR currency pair eased 0.11% to 71.314, while EUR/INR slipped 0.25% to 78.7000. The 10-year Indian government bond yield narrowed 0.26% to 6.578%. India’s second largest state-owned lender Bank of Baroda added 0.7% ahead of the quarterly earnings release. Pharmaceutical player Biocon ticked up 0.02%, paring earlier losses stoked by a 6.5% y-o-y decrease in quarterly net income. PNB Housing Finance sank 10.6% after reporting downbeat quarterly earnings. On the daily chart, the BSE Sensex continues to trade within a rising wedge as it heads north. Given where the Slow Stochastic Oscillator and the RSI are pointing, the benchmark holds further upside potential in the short term.