FINAL TRADE: Sensex jumps 481 points, Nifty closes at 19,517; Zomato up 11%, SBI down 3%

Stock markets today: Domestic equities ended on a positive note on Friday, thereby ending a three-day losing streak amid across-the-board buying. At close, the S&P BSE Sensex ended at 65,721.25, up 480.57 points, or 0.74 per cent while the NSE's Nifty ended at 19,517, down 135.35 points, or 0.7 per cent. Equities advanced on Friday as Cipla's surge to a record high led drugmakers higher, while metal stocks gained on hopes that China would soon roll out measures to boost its economic recovery. HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL), Infosys, and TCS were the top contributors to the index's gains.

"The market had been falling for three consecutive sessions and a relief rally was already expected, which came in on the back of a rating upgrade by Morgan Stanley as India remains a bright spot in an otherwise tepid world economy. Fitch Ratings' move to downgrade US government credit had triggered a global market sell-off in the last few sessions, but India's buoyant economic show in the last few quarters means investors cannot ignore domestic equity markets for long and would keep coming after every short-term correction," said Amol Athawale,  Vice President - Technical Research, Kotak Securities.

"Technically, we could see promising pullback rallies if Nifty trades above 19,400 and on further upsurge, it could move up till 19,600 or 20-day SMA. Further upside could lift the market to 19,700. On the flip side, below 19,400 the selling pressure is likely to accelerate. Below which, the index could slip till 19,300-19,250," the expert added.

During the day, ten of the 13 sectoral indexes logged gains, with the IT index rising 1.55 per cent after US technology and consulting firm Cognizant maintained its full-year revenue outlook and reported in-line results in the second quarter of 2023.

The IT index, which had lost nearly 5 per cent over the last two weeks since the quarterly earnings of major firms like TCS, HCLTech, Wipro, and Infosys, gained 3.21 per cent this week.

Pharma stocks gained 0.94 per cent, led by Cipla on a report that Blackstone was looking to buy a stake in the drug maker. Cipla was the top Nifty 50 gainer, adding 3.77 per cent.

Broader markets mirrored the benchmarks, with the more domestically focused mid-caps and small-caps adding 0.82 per cent and 0.76 per cent, respectively.

With inputs from Reuters