Indian equities rose for a third straight day, with both benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closing above the key 35,000 and 10,700 levels buoyed by a sharp decline in global crude oil prices and a continuous recovery in the rupee.
Among the Sensex constituents, Sun Pharma, Coal India, L&T, Asian Paints and SBI emerged as the top five gainers. Sector-wise, pharma, bank, auto and FMCG led the gains.
A widening of positions by retail investors amid continued buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) kept the bullish sentiment intact.
In the Asian markets too, a firming trend was seen today as geopolitical worries eased after the US and North Korean officials met to resume preparations for a summit between the leaders of the two countries.
In yet another positive sign, prices of Brent crude -- an international benchmark for crude oil -- fell further by 1.88 per cent to USD 75 per barrel in global markets.
On Friday, Brent sank 3 per cent and WTI fell 4 per cent, and in early Asia business they were both down a further 2 per cent.
Further lifting investors' mood, the rupee today strengthened by 49 paise to 67.29 (intra-day) against the dollar at the interbank forex market today.
"Fall in oil price in expectation of more supply from OPEC and improved optimism on US and N. Korea summit influenced the market to rally. On domestic front, 10-year yield inched lower while rupee gained some traction which will give cushion on inflation front and fiscal path," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.
He said that additionally, market optimism may increase as monsoon is about to hit the southern peninsula regions which will support the consumption led story and rural economy.
Driven by capital goods, oil and gas, PSU and healthare, the flagship Sensex reclaimed the 35,000-mark at the outset to hit a high of 35,240.96 before settling at 35,165.48, up 240.61 points, or 0.69 per cent. It also touched a low of 35,006.50
The gauge had climbed 579.96 points in the previous two days.
For the 50-share NSE Nifty, the closing came in at 10,688.65, higher by 83.50 points, or 0.79 per cent, after hovering between 10,709.80 and 10,640.55.
Stocks of state-run oil marketing and aviation companies were in the limelight after crude oil prices dropped in global markets. HPCL, BPCL and IOC gained by up to 6.10 per cent per cent after global crude corrected to USD 75 a barrel from the 2018 high of USD 80.50 a barrel.
In the aviation space, Spicejet Ltd climbed 20 per cent, Jet Airways up 7.67 per cent, while InterGlobe Aviation gained 2.38 per cent.
Domestic financial institutions continued to hold ground and retail investors built up more bets amid a firming Asian trend.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) picked up shares worth a net Rs 887.76 crore on Friday. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) exited, pulling out shares amounting to Rs 768.29 crore on a net basis, showed provisional data.
During the session, stocks of auto makers attracted investors' attention ahead of sale numbers data for May later this week.
Sun Pharma topped the Sensex list by surging 7.11 per cent after the drug maker on Friday posted 6.96 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,308.96 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2018.
State-run power giant NTPC ended higher by 1.36 per cent after the company today posted 40.69 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 2,925.59 crore for the quarter ended on March 31, 2018.
Other big movers of the day were Coal India rose 3.22 per cent, L&T 2.52 per cent, Asian Paint 2.31 per cent, SBI 1.97 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 1.86 per cent, Yes Bank 1.52 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.52 per cent, Axis Bank 1.49 per cent, Tata Steel 1.48 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.45 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 1.30 per cent, ITC Ltd 1.18 per cent, Dr Reddy's 0.97 per cent.
Among other gainers were ICICI Bank 0.93 per cent, Tata Motors 0.68 per cent, HDFC Ltd 0.57 per cent, Hind Unilever 0.39 per cent and ONGC 0.34 per cent.
However, tech stocks such as TCS fell 0.39 per cent, Infosys 1.16 per cent and Wipro 0.60 per cent on worries that a stronger rupee could hit returns from the US market, the biggest source of revenue for Indian IT companies.
As for sectoral indices, the BSE capital goods took the lead by rising 2.50 per cent, followed by oil & gas 2.47 per cent, PSU (2.45 pc), healthcare (2.11 pc), realty (1.58 pc), power (1.25 pc), bankex (1.18 pc), infrastructure (1.16 pc), auto (1.12 pc), metal (0.95 pc), FMCG (0.55 pc) and consumer durables (0.09 pc).
While IT index lost 1.72 per cent following more appreciation in rupee's value, while teck ended 1.33 per cent down.
Broader markets such as small-cap and mid-cap indices too rallied in step with key indices, surging by 1.60 per cent and 1.35 per cent, respectively.
In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.72 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.13 per cent. Taiwan up 0.42 per cent, while Singapore rose 0.20 per cent but China's Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.20 per cent.
Key indices in Europe were in a better shape in their early session. Frankfurt's DAX was up 0.59 per cent and Paris CAC 40 gained 0.46 per cent.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)