Closing Bell: Nifty ends above 16,700, Sensex adds over 350 points; indices gain more than 4% this week

The Indian market continued its winning streak by closing in the green for the sixth straight session on the last trading session of the week on Friday. Benchmarks Nifty50 and 30-share Sensex ended the week strongly as the barometer indices gained over 4% each in the week ended on July 22.  

Increased foreign investment and solid quarterly results are increasing domestic demand, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Among broad-based buying, banking stocks outshined due to healthy quarterly earnings. European markets traded with modest gains, while investors digested the latest ECB monetary policy as it joined the global peers in policy tightening," added Nair.

Meanwhile, the headline indices closed higher by more than half per cent. The broader Nifty50 ended near 16,700, while the Sensex gained more than 300 points to settle near 56,000.  

Underperforming benchmarks, Niffy midcap ended flat, while the smallcap index closed with 0.3% gains on Friday.  

On the sectoral front, IT, energy, Pharma and healthcare stocks declined, while bank and financial services and FMCG shares gained.  

UltraTech Cement, whose net profit fll by 7% to Rs 1,582.02 crore and net sales rose 28% in the Q1fy23, led the Nifty50 and Sensex pack with around five per cent gains in the Friday's closing. Grasim, UPL, HDFC twins, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Titan and Kotak Bank were among top gainers on Friday.  

Tata Consumers, Infosys, NTPC, PowerGrid, BPCL, Wipro, IndusInd Bank and HCL Tech dragged the market amid positive sentiment.