Extending their rally into the second straight day, the benchmark indices ended Friday's session with around 1.5 per cent gains, led by Reliance Industries (RIL) as the company announced it has become net debt-free, much before its original schedule of March 31, 2021. The stock rallied 6.5 per cent to end at Rs 1,764. In the process, the company scaled the market capitalisation of Rs 11 trillion.
The S&P BSE Sensex today gained 524 points or 1.53 per cent to settle at 34,732. Of 30 stocks on the index, 18 ended in the green and rest 12 in the red. Besides RIL, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Bharti Airtel were the major contributors to the index's gains.
NSE's Nifty50 ended at 10,244, up 153 points or 1.5 per cent with 33 constituents advancing, 16 declining and 1 remaining unchanged. Volatility index, India VIX, dipped over 5 per cent to 29.78 levels.
On a weekly basis, Sensex gained nearly 3 per cent while Nifty added 2.7 per cent.
Sectorally, all the indices except Nifty IT and Nifty Metal ended in the green. Nifty Realty index zoomed over 6 per cent to 29.78 levels. On the other hand, Nifty IT slipped 0.35 per cent to 14,500.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index gained 1.37 per cent to 12,804 while the S&P BSE SmallCap index rallied around 1.4 per cent to 12,277.
Global markets
Asian shares and US stock futures teetered in choppy trade on Friday as lingering concerns about a fresh spike in coronavirus cases offset growing hopes for a quick economic recovery. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 per cent. US S&P 500 e-minis were oscillating between the positive and negative zones.
Shares in China rose 1.15 per cent, led by gains in financials and the health care sector, but South Korean stocks fell 0.25 per cent due to concern about diplomatic tension with North Korea.