Markets extend gains on global cues; post weekly gains

Mumbai: Rising for the second straight day, the BSE Sensex vaulted over 127 points while the NSE Nifty finished above the 11,600-mark Friday on heavy buying in auto and metal stocks amid robust foreign fund inflows and positive global leads.

The 30-share Sensex started off on a strong footing at 38,675 points and touched a high of 38,748.54 before winding up at 38,672.91, recording a rise of 127.19, or 0.33 per cent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty closed at 11,623.90, higher by 53.90 points, or 0.47 per cent, after hovering between 11,630.35 and 11,570.15.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex advanced over 508 points, or 1.33 per cent, while the Nifty gained 167 points or 1.45 per cent.

Analysts attributed the continuing market rally to robust investor sentiment driven by foreign fund inflows, a stronger rupee and a likely positive outcome of the US-China trade talks.

In the Sensex pack, Vedanta rallied 3.20 per cent on Friday, followed by Tata Steel, M&M, Tata Motors, ONGC, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, SBI, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, Coal India, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Reliance and Bharti Airtel, rising up to 2.69 per cent.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank emerged as the top loser, dropping 2.08 per cent.

Other major laggards were ITC, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, PowerGrid, NTPC, Kotak Bank and L&T, shedding up to 1.10 per cent.

"Market continued the upward movement supported by global cues, which rallied in expectation of US-China trade deal. However, the market is facing resistance while nearing the all-time high. Investors are looking ahead to get cues from general election during which earnings growth in Q4 will be inevitable to support the rally," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, the BSE metal index gained the most at 2.33 per cent, followed by basic materials (2.10 per cent), healthcare (1.37 per cent) and auto (1.22 per cent). FMCG, utilities and bankex indices closed in the red, losing up to 0.14 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 3,594.51 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors were sellers to the tune of Rs 2,080.22 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

The Indian rupee Friday appreciated by 13 paise to 69.17 against the US dollar intra-day.

On the global front, US President Donald Trump said trade talks with China are progressing "very well", as top negotiators from the two countries Thursday began another round of meetings to resolve their tariff dispute.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.96 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index was soared 3.20 per cent, Korea's Kospi gained 0.59 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei ended 0.82 per cent higher.

In the Eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.37 per cent, Paris CAC 40 rose 0.61 per cent and London's FTSE was up 0.58 per cent in early deals.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.44 per cent to USD 68.12 per barrel.