Closing Bell: Market ends positive; Sensex surges over 130 points, Nifty50 settles near 17,700-level – Metals shine

The Indian markets ended Friday’s session on a positive note as Sensex gained over 130 points and Nifty settled near the 17,700-mark, mainly supported by metal stocks along with bank and financials.

At the market close, the BSE Sensex gained 130.18 points or 0.22 per cent to 59,462.78, and Nifty50 surged 39.15 points or 0.22 per cent to 17,698.15. While the broader markets outperformed the benchmarks, as the Nifty midcap and smallcap up over 0.7 and 0.25 per cent at the close.

As many as 29 stocks advanced and 21 declined on Nifty50 at the close. ONGC surged nearly 5 per cent to become top Nifty gainer ahead of earnings as crude nears $100/bbl, followed by Tata Steel up over 3.per cent – it has jumped 12.5 per cent since the ex-split date. NTPC is also up over 3 per cent.

While other heavyweights such as UPL and Power Grid each gained between 2-3 per cent, while ICICI Bank and SBI gained around 2 per cent at the market close today.

On the contrary, Divis Lab slipped most in the trade today, down nearly 6 per cent as margins dipped during the June quarter, followed by Apollo Hospital down over 2.5 per cent. While other stocks like Infosys, Maruti, Tata Consumer, and Cipla are each down between 1-1.5 per cent at the close.

While stating the cues for the indices next week, Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said, “Markets will react to the macroeconomic data viz. IIP and CPI and other global cues in early trade on Tuesday.”

The recent buoyancy on the global front combined with rotational buying across sectors are pointing towards the prevailing up move to extend further with intermediate pause Participants should align their positions accordingly, the market analyst added.