Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, managed to end in the green zone after facing volatility in the latter part of the trade on Friday amid gains in Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turning net buyers in the market on Thursday after many sessions also added to the momentum.
The BSE Sensex ended 104 points (0.18 per cent) higher at 59,307, logging its sixth day of gains. During the day, it jumped 388 points (0.65 per cent) to 59,590. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty ended marginally higher by 12 points (0.07 per cent) at 17,576.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Axis Bank zoomed 8.96 per cent after the company on Thursday reported a 66.29 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for the September quarter at Rs 5,625.25 crore, driven by a substantial decrease in bad loan provisions and margin expansion. The other major winners from the 30-share pack were ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Nestle, Titan, and UltraTech Cement. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, and Larsen & Toubro were among the laggards.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices dipped 0.75 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively.
Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank and Private Bank indices gained the most, up 1.8 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively, while the Nifty Pharma index fell 0.8 per cent.
In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE Sensex climbed 96 points (0.16 per cent) to settle at 59,203, while the broader NSE Nifty ended 52 points (0.30 per cent) higher at 17,564.
In other Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended lower, while Shanghai closed with gains. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading lower in mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended lower on Thursday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.37 per cent lower at $92.02 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers after many days as they bought shares worth Rs 1,864.79 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.