Sensex rebounds 143 points, Nifty tops 17,800; Asian Paints, TCS, Nestle top gainers

Benchmark indices closed higher on Friday, led by gains in Reliance Industries, TCS and ICICI Bank amid a mixed trend in global markets. Sensex ended 142.81 points higher at 59,744.65 and Nifty rose 66.80 points to close at 17,812.

Asian Paints was the top Sensex gainer rising 1.79% followed by TCS, Nestle India, Ultratech Cement, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries.

Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and Titan were among top Sensex losers, falling up to 1.39%.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said,  "Nifty logged the best week in 4 months rising 2.6%. Nifty on daily charts, however, has formed a long legged doji with slightly upward bias. Volume pickup and positive advance decline ratio portend well for the near term. 17944-17655 could be the range for the Nifty in the near term."

Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 272.30 lakh crore.

Market breadth was positive with 2,104 stocks ending higher against 1,305 stocks closing lower  on BSE. 84 shares were unchanged.

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research  Analyst, HDFC Securities said, "Nifty on the weekly chart formed a long bull candle as per week's close and registered gains for third consecutive week. The present weekly market action indicates a negation of bearish weekly pattern of lower highs and lower lows. This is positive indication.

The underlying short-term trend of Nifty remains positive with high volatility. The uptrend strength remains intact and we are unlikely to see any sharp trended decline from here. Any weakness from here could be a buying opportunity around the crucial support of 17,600 levels and we expect further upside from the lower levels. Immediate resistance is placed at 17,900."

BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 136 points and 127 points, respectively. Banking shares were the top sectoral gainers with BSE bankex rising 276 points to 43,046. BSE oil and gas and IT indices rose 207 points and 122 points, respectively.

BSE capital goods index was the top loser falling 228 points to 29,088.

On Thursday, Indian benchmark indices ended lower after four days of gains amid Covid 19 worries and Federal Reserve's hawkish stance. Sensex fell 621 points to 59,601 and Nifty closed 179 points lower at 17,745. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 23 ended in the red.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,926 crore on January 6, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) lapped up shares worth Rs 800 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul ended with gains, while Shanghai and Tokyo were in the red. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in mid-session deals.

International oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.94 per cent to $82.76 per barrel.