Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Friday witnessed a sharp rally as IT stock pushed the indices to record highs. The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 72,568, up 847 points after hitting a new lifetime high of 72,721. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 scaled a new peak of 21,928 before settling 247 points higher to 21,895.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Infosys jumped around 8 per cent, followed by TechM, Wipro, TCS, HCL, SBI. On the down side, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finserv, UltraCemco, HDFC Bank, M&M, Axis Bank emerged losers.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index hit a new high of 37,941, while the BSE Smallcap touched 44,644.
Sectorwise, the Nifty IT index zoomed 5.27 per cent, the Nifty PSU Bank index rose 2.7 per cent, while the Nifty Realty gained 1.6 per cent.
In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE benchmark climbed 63 points to settle at 71,721, while the NSE Nifty gained 28.50 points to close at 21,647.
"Indian markets soared to new heights in a powerful rally, driven by IT heavyweights. Green shoots of recovery in the IT sector on the back of an improved outlook for BFSI in FY25 positively influenced market sentiments. The robust performance of PSU banking stocks is underscored by the inherent synergy between their loan portfolios and the prevailing business cycle," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
In Asian markets, Tokyo settled higher, while Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ended lower. European markets were trading in positive territory. The US markets ended mostly in the green on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.49 per cent to $79.34 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 865 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened for the eighth consecutive session and settled with a gain of 11 paise at 82.90 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, buoyed by robust equity market sentiments. Forex traders said an upward move in crude oil prices and stronger American currency, however, contained the uptick of the Indian currency, even as investors remained concerned about the domestic macroeconomic data to be released later in the day.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency opened weak at 83.08 and traded between 82.86 and 83.10 against the greenback during intra-day deals. The unit finally settled at 82.90 (provisional) against the dollar, registering a gain of 11 paise over its previous close, amid a bullish trend in domestic equities, wherein benchmark indices climbed lifetime highs.