Stock Market Closing: Nifty ends above 17,200, Sensex adds around 700 points; HUL top gainer

The Indian market rallied more than 1 per cent on F&O monthly expiry on Friday as benchmarks Nifty 50 closed above 17,200 and the Sensex rose by nearly 700 points. The recovery in the market was led by FMCG, oil & gas and bank stocks.  

Underperforming benchmarks, Nifty midcap and small cap ended with 0.7 and 0.5% gains respectively in the broader market as India Volatility Index (VIX) dropped below 20-mark.  

Sectorally, Nifty FMCG gained the most. Nifty oil & gas, Nifty Bank, Consumer Durables were other top gainers. Nifty Media, which declined more than 3%, was the only loser in an otherwise positive market.  

"Even as the Euro hit a 5 year low against the Dollar, Benchmark Indices on D-Street rose almost 2% in Afternoon Trade, before giving up some gains powered by Energy & FMCG stocks with Reliance becoming the first Indian company to cross m-cap of $250bn," said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities. 

Even standalone Refineries not part of the Energy Index evinced keen interest on the back of rising gross refining margins, he said. "High Quality Midcap names in IT & Agri saw accumulation on the back of good earnings," the expert added. 

Meanwhile, on back of good q4 numbers and positive rating from brokerages, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) remained top gainer on both Nift50 and the Sensex. HDFC LIfe, SBI Life, UPL, Asian Paints, L&T, Power Grid, NTPC were other top gainers. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, M&M, HDFC Bank and HCL Tech were top laggards.