India's benchmark share indices ended near their day highs on Friday and also registered fifth consecutive weekly gain for the first time since the week ended September 9, 2010, led by heavyweight Reliance Industries and private banking majors.
Markets remained rangebound for most part of the trading session but recovery in late trades took the Sensex to a high of 17,630 before finally ending at 17,604 - up 173 points. Nifty ended up 56 points at 5,325.
"The Nifty has also crossed 200 DMA which now stands at 5,192 and on a closing basis we have closed above this levels consistently for four times. These are the signals that we are currently in a bull market. We see February series closing at 5,390-5,400 level," said Salil Sharma, Technical Analyst, Partner, kapursharma.com.
On the global front, Asian markets ended on a mixed note ahead of key US jobs data, which will offer more clues over the state of the world's largest economy, while Greek debt restructuring talks dragged on. Strait Times, Hang Seng, Taiwan Index and Shanghai Composite ended marginally higher. However, Nikkei and Kospi ended in red. European markets too have opened mixed.
The rupee climbed to a three-month high today, propelled by dollar inflows and gains in the local share market.
FIIs bought shares worth a net Rs 10,357.70 crore in January 2012, as per data from Sebi. On Thursday, FIIs bought shares worth Rs 1,941.23 crore - giving a fillip to the market.
BSE realty index surged 2% to 1,784. Healthcare, power, FMCG and bankex advanced around 1.5% each. However, BSE metal index dropped 1% to 11,874 taking cues from the London Metal Exchange.
Broader markets outperformed the benchmark with the indices surging 1.2% each to 6,046 and 6,686, respectively.
NTPC was the biggest Sensex gainer and ended up 2.7% at Rs 176. Hindustan Unilever from the FMCG space moved up 2.6% at Rs 401.
From the Healthcare segment, Sun Pharma and Cipla surged 2.3% and 1.5%, respectively, after rating agency Fitch said its outlook on India's pharmaceutical sector for 2012 remains stable, as earnings prospects are expected to remain positive because of the growing global demand for generics and opportunities provided by patent expiries in developed markets.
Bharti Airtel added 0.7% at Rs 389 on expectation that the telecom major could emerge as one of the major beneficiaries following today’s Supreme Court verdict.
Technology stocks like Infosys and TCS surged. TCS moved up 2% at Rs 1,168 after Fitch has affirmed a stable outlook for the India information technology (IT) services sector in 2012 on account of its strong liquidity position, even though it warned that revenue growth of the segment may moderate this year. Infosys was up 1% at Rs 2,780.
From the Realty pack, DLF rose 2% at Rs 230 on expectations that the central bank will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy.
Among other stocks, Marico reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 84.11 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2011. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 69.52 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal. Net sales of the company rose to Rs 1,057.81 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2011. It stood at Rs 817.73 crore in the same period previous fiscal. The stock rose 6% to Rs 163.
The BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 2,995 shares traded, 1,717 shares advanced while 1,166 shares declined.
