Earnings optimism and positive global cues fuelled a broad-based rally in the markets with benchmark indices settling over a per cent higher on Friday. IT stocks led from the front and contributed nearly half of Sensex's 600-point gains today. Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, and L&T provided the remaining fillip to the BSE barometer.
The S&P BSE Sensex notched 689 points, or 1.43 per cent, to end at fresh closing peak of 48,782.5. The index hit a new lifetime high of 48,854.34 levels. The Sensex index gained 2 per cent during the week and clocked the longest stretch of weekly gains since 2009.
Maruti Suzuki was the top gainer on the index, closing 6 per cent higher, followed by gains in Tech Mahindra. The IT firm ended 5 per cent higher and entered the elite Rs 1-trillion market capitalisation club today. With a m-cap of Rs 1.01 trillion at close, Tech M became the fifth IT firm to achieve the feat.
That apart, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hit a record high of Rs 3,127.55 apiece in the intra-day trade and closed 3 per cent higher ahead of the announcement of Q3FY21 results. The IT firm's revenue in constant currency terms is expected to rise in the range of 2.4-4 per cent on quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis while it may grow between 3-4.5 per cent in dollar revenue.
The broader Nifty50 too, ended at a fresh closing peak of 14,347, closing 210 points or 1.48 per cent higher on the NSE. 41 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green. The index touched a lifetime high of 14,367 in noon deals today.
In the mid-cap space, S&P BSE MidCap index, though underperforming the frontline index, settled 1 per cent higher at 19,138.7 level after hitting a record peak of 19,161 earlier in the day. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, ended at 18,908.59 levels, up 0.72 per cent.
Mid and smallcap fertiliser firms such as FACT and Madras Fertilisers were locked at 20 per cent upper circuit limits today. Besides, Zuari Global, Deepak Fertilisers, and RCF rallied up to 12 per cent on the BSE.
Global markets
European stocks rose on Friday, with Germany’s DAX rising 0.8% and hitting a record high on the back of better-than-expected economic data and encouraging earnings updates from chipmakers.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.7% and was on track for a more than 3% weekly gain, with hopes of more US stimulus boosting economically sensitive sectors such as miners, oil & gas and banks.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei added 2.36 per cent while South Korea's Kospi jumped 4 per cent.
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