The equity benchmarks gained for second straight session on Friday, led by strength in banking and financial services shares. The benchmarks traded in a narrow band in the first half of trade and jumped in noon deals on the back of gains in ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys, State Bank of India and Tata Steel. The Sensex rose as much as 274 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 15,870.80.
The Sensex ended 226 points higher at 52,925 and Nifty 50 index advanced 70 points to close a 15,860.
Both the indexes posted their fifth weekly gain in six weeks, helped by declining COVID-19 cases, easing of restrictions and a recent record surge in daily vaccinations.
Nomura said in a research note on Thursday the country's vaccination rate "skyrocketed" this week, averaging six million doses per day.
Buying was visible across the board as all the 11 sector gauges barring the index of FMCG shares ended higher, led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's nearly 3 per cent gain. Nifty Metal, Bank, Private Bank and Financial Services indexes also rose between 1.25-2.5 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1.1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.54 per cent.
Tata Steel was top Nifty gainer; the stock rose nearly 5 per cent to close at Rs 1,113. Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India, Tata Motors, JSW Steel and Bajaj Finserv also rose 1.3-3 per cent each.
On the flipside, Reliance Industries was top Nifty loser, the stock dropped 2.4 per cent to close at Rs 2,102. NTPC, Titan, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, UPL, ONGC, Nestle India, Britannia Industries, Bajaj Auto and UltraTech Cement also declined between 0.5-2 per cent.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,789 shares ended higher while 1,418 ended lower on the BSE.
