India's benchmark share indices gained on Friday and registered their fifth consecutive weekly gain since the week ended, led by heavyweight Reliance Industries and private banking majors.
The 30-share Sensex ended above the 17,000 mark for the fourth straight session up 166 points at 17,587 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 48 points at 5,318.
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(Updated at 14:32 hrs)
Markets have gathered momentum after witnessing a flat session during the day. Banking shares, Bharti Airtel and Infosys have helped the markets to recover from the choppy session.
At 14:30 hrs, the Sensex gained 95 points at 15,527 and the 50-share Nifty rose 35 points at 5,305.
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. Europeam markets too have opened mixed.
Back to home, Bharti Airtel is the top Sensex gainer, up 3% on expectation that the telecom major could emerge as one of the major beneficiaries following today’s Supreme Court verdict.
From the Healthcare segment, Sun Pharma and Cipla have surged between 1-2% 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.
Technology stocks like Infosys and TCS have spurted by over 1% each 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.
FMCG major HUL has zoomed by nearly 2%.
Among Realty pack, DLF has gained over 1% on expectations that the central bank will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy.
Banking stocks like HDFC Bank, HDFC and ICICI Bank have gained by almost 1% each.
Power stocks like NTPC and Tata Power have gained by nearly 2% each.
However, metal stocks like Sterlite Industries, Hindalco Industries, Hindustan Zinc, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel have fallen between 1-3% as LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange declined 1.56% yesterday.
The broader markets have outperformed the benchmark indices, up by over 1% each.
The overall market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,620 shares advancing and 1,137 shares declining.
