Mumbai, Oct. 9 -- Indian stock markets opened higher on Friday, with IT stocks witnessing strong buying despite the US government's decision to suspend some of the world's largest IT outsourcing firms from the Permanent Labor Certification Program.

The Nifty 50 opened at 22,303.35, gaining 70.55 points or 0.32 per cent, while the BSE Sensex was trading at 71,747.82, up 154.5 points or 0.22 per cent.

The Nifty IT index jumped 2.73 per cent, while most other sectoral indices on the NSE also traded in positive territory after losses on Thursday.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty FMCG rose 0.96 per cent, Nifty Private Bank gained 0.56 per cent, Nifty PSU Bank advanced 0.47 per cent, Nifty Metal increased 0.26 per cent, Nifty Pharma rose 0.22 p...