Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Friday extended their gains for the third straight session, led by a strong buying interest in metal and technology stocks. The domestic indices spurted over 1 per cent to close at over three-month high levels on Friday following buying in index majors Reliance Industries, Infosys, and HDFC twins.
The BSE Sensex jumped 712 points to settle at 57,570, the highest closing level since April 25. During the day, it rallied 761 points to a high of 57,619. The broader NSE Nifty rallied 228 points to end at 17,158, with 43 of its shares closing in the green.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Steel jumped 7.27 per cent to emerge as the biggest Sensex gainer. Sun Pharma surged 5.45 per cent, Bajaj Finserv by 2.64 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 2.52 per cent, Asian Paints by 2.38 per cent, and Infosys by 2.12 per cent. Reliance Industries rose by 2.1 per cent amid gains in global crude oil prices. HDFC gained 1.85 per cent after it posted a 22 per cent rise in Q1 profit on a higher income driven by robust loan disbursements. Bajaj Finance, Wipro, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Nestle, M&M, TCS, and HDFC Bank were among the 25 Sensex gainers.
On the flip side, Dr Reddy’s fell the most by 3.96 per cent while Kotak Bank, SBI, ITC, and Axis Bank closed down.
In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices, too, added over 1 per cent each.
On NSE, all 14 sector gauges settled in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Metal, Nifty IT, Nifty Oil & Gas, and Nifty Consumer Durables outperformed the NSE platform by rising as much as 3.86 per cent, 1.71 per cent, 2.18 per cent, and 1.75 per cent, respectively.
The overall market breadth stood positive as 2,101 shares advanced, while 1,225 declined on the BSE.
In the previous session on Thursday, Sensex had zoomed 1,041 points (1.87 per cent) to close at 56,858, while Nifty had moved 288 points (1.73 per cent) higher to settle at 16,930.
“In India, the big positive for the market is FIIs reducing their selling substantially and even turning buyers for 8 days this month. The expected outperformance of financials has played out well. Q1 results indicate improving prospects for this segment,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
In Asian markets, Seoul ended higher, while Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled lower amid growth concerns. Markets in Europe were trading in the green during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended higher on Thursday.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.92 per cent to $109.2 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors became net buyers in the capital markets as they bought shares worth Rs 1,637.69 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.