For the first time, the NSE Nifty crossed the 9,600-level and the Sensex raced past the 31,000 on sustained foreign capital inflows amid robust earnings.

The 50-share Nifty gained 85.35 points or 0.90 per cent to finish at 9,595.10. It hit a high of 9,604.90 in pre-close trade, surpassing its previous intra-day high of 9,532.60 touched on May 17.

The Nifty has risen nearly 30.46 per cent since the BJP— led NDA government came to power in May 2014.

The benchmark BSE Sensex too clocked a new intra-day high of 31,074.07.

The Sensex finished 0.90 per cent or 278.18 points higher at 31,028.21.

The gauge has risen nearly 26 per cent since May 2014.

Firmness in the rupee against the dollar and fall in global crude oil prices also influenced trading sentiment, brokers said.

Marketmen said persistent inflow of foreign funds and sustained buying by retail investors, buoyed by a series of positive cues such as early onset of monsoon, upbeat quarterly earnings and finalisation of rates by the GST Council, fuelled the rally.

Firmness in the rupee against the dollar and fall in global crude oil prices also influenced trading sentiment, brokers said.

Creation of new positions by participants following the beginning of the June futures and options (F&O) series too added to the momentum, they added.

Prominent gainers were Tata Steel, Reliance, PowerGrid, Asian Paints, ITC, Adani Ports, Infosys, Maruti and Tata Motors, gaining up to 5.4 per cent.

“Most of the movement on the indexes since Thursday is due to broad index-level buying in the markets because of the F&O expiry,” said Tirthankar Patnaik, chief strategist and head of research, India at Mizuho Bank.

“On Thursday, major shorts were covered and longs have been rolled, so there is follow-up buying in today's session. Nifty saw 75 per cent rollover yesterday,” said Miraj Vora, derivative analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd.

A higher rollover is typically a bullish sign and means investors expect gains to continue.

Moreover, data showing that foreign institutional investors made sizeable buying to the tune of Rs 589.11 crore on Thursday buoyed sentiment.

Reliance Industries Ltd gained as much as 2.6 per cent, while Tata Steel Ltd gained as much as 5.4 per cent to Rs 511.50, its highest since September 2014.

The Tata Steel stock cleared a resistance seen around Rs 497.54, the 23.6 pct Fibonacci projection of wave (1). Breakout suggests stock may move towards Rs 540.74, the 38.2 pct Fibonacci projection level. The stock's 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) crossed above its 50-day EMA this week, seen positive for stock. MACD is also positive and above its signal line. German industrial group Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel expect a merger of their European steel businesses to yield annual savings 400-600 mln euros, a report said on Thursday. Tata Steel stock is up 49.3 per cent in the past one year, compared with a 19.9 per cent gain in NSE index, as of Thursday's close.

Consumer firm ITC Ltd rose 1.90 per cent. Q4 standalone net profit was up 12.13 per cent at Rs 2,669.47 crore and net sales rose 6.15 per cent to Rs 15,008.82 crore.

Meanwhile, downstream oil companies lost some ground.

“There is some profit-booking in downstream oil companies," Patnaik said.

Indian Oil Corp Ltd slipped for the first time in three sessions, falling 3.1 per cent, while Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd lost as much as 3.7 per cent and looked set to snap three sessions of gains.

Pharma company Cipla Ltd dropped to an eleven-month low after posting a quarterly loss against analysts' expectations.

Barring healthcare, all BSE sectoral indices of the BSE led by metal, capital goods and consumer durables were in the positive zone, rising up to 3.6 per cent.

Global markets

European stock markets opened down as turbulence in oil markets following Thursday's OPEC meeting, at which oil producers extended existing output cuts but did not expand them, undermined sentiment towards risk assets in general. Asian shares also fell.

Some of the sharpest moves came in currencies, where Britain's pound fell over 0.5 percent to $1.2861 and looked set for its biggest one-day slide in over three weeks and steepest one-week decline since early April.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan , which closed at a two-year high on Thursday, fell 0.2 per cent, shrinking its weekly gain to 1.45 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.34 per cent higher in yesterday’s trade.