Sensex rises 130 points, Nifty settles at 17,698

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 130.18 points (0.22 per cent) to end at 59,462.78 while the Nifty 50 settled at 17,698.15, up 39.15 points (0.22 per cent). Both the indices had opened marginally lower earlier in the day and slipped as much as 0.37 per cent in the morning deals before erasing their losses and turning positive.

On the Sensex pack, NTPC, Tata Steel, Power Grid Corporation of India, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL) and State Bank of India (SBI) were the top gainers on Friday. In contrast, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki India, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and HindusTan Unilever (HUL) were the top laggards.

Among sectoral indices on the NSE, Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 2.25 per cent and the Nifty Metal index climbed 1.64 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma fell 1.15 per cent each.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended at 27,905.91, up 107.89 points (0.39 per cent) and the S&P BSE MidCap settled at 24,765.05, up 37.67 points (0.15 per cent).

“Return of FIIs and declining dollar index aided the market rally. While metals and oil & gas garnered buying interest, IT and pharma weighed on sentiments. Oil and gas stocks were in focus as the government diverted some natural gas from industries to city gas operators in an effort to moderate the prices of CNG and piped cooking gas,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Going ahead, investors will look forward to the retail inflation and factory output data which will be released later in the day.

Global Markets (from Reuters)

World stocks headed for a fourth straight week of gains on Friday as investors scaled back views on how far US interest rates and inflation can climb, while oil recouped some of the previous week’s losses. A slight easing of inflation readings drove global stocks higher and capped a rising dollar this week, though a string of Fed speakers dampened expectations of the central bank going slow on further policy tightening.

MSCI’s world stock index was up 0.1 per cent and was showing a 1.8 per cent rise on the week. S&P futures gained 0.53 per cent after the S&P index closed down 0.07 per cent.

European stocks rose 0.35 per cent and were heading for weekly gains of more than 1 per cent. Britain’s FTSE climbed 0.56 per cent and was eyeing a near-1 per cent rise on the week.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.16 per cent, heading for a weekly gain of 1 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.46 per cent, but Chinese blue-chip stocks dipped 0.1 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei was the major outlier, surging 2.62 per cent to its highest level since January as markets reopened following a national holiday.