Closing Bell: Nifty near 16,350, Sensex adds over 600 points; IT lead the rally

The Indian market closed the last trading day of the week on higher note as benchmarks Nifty50 and the Sensex gained over one per cent on Friday. Extending the rally for the second day, the broader Nifty50 closed above 16300 and the Sensex gained more than 600 points to close near 54,900.  

The rally was largely led by IT and banking stocks. Nifty IT gained around 2.5%, while the Private Bank Index rose around 1.7% on Friday. Nifty Oil & gas closed with over one per cent cuts, while the metal index also witnessed some selling pressure as Nifty Metal closed flat.

"Joining the global rally, the investors were in a buying mood following favourable retail earnings in the US. Receding FII selling also provided comfort to the domestic market in bringing down volatility," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The RBI’s upcoming policy meeting will be a key factor in the market, where they are expected to announce an additional policy rate hike of 25-35bps, the expert added. 

Meanwhile, following the benchmarks, Nifty midcap and smallcap rose by nearly 1.3% each as India Volatility Index (VIX) closed near 21-mark. 

Among stocks, Apollo Hospitals led the Nifty50 pack with nearly five per cent gain and Tech Mahindra, which settled higher by with four per cent, was the top gainer on the 30-share Sensex.  

IndusInd Bank, HDFC LIfe, Wipro Infosy, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj FInserv, HCL Tech, Hindustan Unilever, L&T, and Kotak Bank were other leading gainers on Friday. Among the stocks that declined in a strong market were largely gas and metal stocks. ONGC, NTPC, PoweGrid, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Asian Paints and RIL were prominent losers on the last day of the week.