Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains On Robust Demand For Metal, Banking Stocks

Mumbai:

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty overcame volatility to settle in the green for the second straight session on Friday, led by strong demand for metals, banking and financial stocks amid a firmer trend in global equities.

Besides, a stronger rupee and lower crude oil prices in international markets also weighed on sentiment here, traders said.

In volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled up 355.06 points, or 0.62 percent, at 57,989.90. During the day, it hit a high of 58,178.94 and a low of 57,503.90.

The broader NSE Nifty ended up 114.45 points, or 0.67 percent, at 17,100.05.

HCL Tech led the Sensex gainer chart with a gain of 3.58 percent, followed by Ultra Cement, Nestle India, Tata Steel, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Twins.

In contrast, ITC, Maruti, NTPC, Asian Paints and Sun Pharma were among the main laggards, which declined by 1.51%.

In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap gauge climbed 0.29 percent and the small-cap index gained 0.69 percent.

Markets were volatile and moved with a positive bias as investors resorted to selective buying. European indices and other Asian peers made significant gains, giving local traders a big boost.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong rose.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the green in mid-session deals. Major indices on Wall Street closed in positive territory in overnight trade.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.16 percent to US$75.57 a barrel.

The rupee rose 18 paise to close at 82.58 against the US dollar on Friday.

Experts said India’s banking system is expected to be immune from Credit Suisse’s troubles as it has little presence in the country.

According to a Jefferies India report, although Credit Suisse is more relevant to India’s financial system than Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), its operations are much more limited.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 282.06 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)