Stock Market: Sensex Surges 684 Points, Nifty Ends At 17,185. IT, Bank Stocks Lead

Stock update: Infosys jumped nearly 4 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, HDFC, HCL Tech, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and State Bank of India on the BSE platform

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Friday, closed over 1 per cent higher, helped by heavy buying in Infosys and banking stocks amid a rally in global stock markets.

The BSE Sensex jumped 684 points (1.20 per cent) to settle at 57,919. During the day, it rallied 1,199 points (2.09 per cent) to 58,435. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 171 points (1.01 per cent) to end at 17,185.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Infosys jumped nearly 4 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, HDFC, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and State Bank of India.

On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, and Power Grid were the laggards.

India's second largest IT services company Infosys on Thursday posted a better-than-expected 11 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 6,021 crore for the September quarter and announced buyback of shares worth Rs 9,300 crore.

The broader indices erased the entire day’s gain towards the close. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.1 per cent, while the Smallcap index ended unmoved.

Sectorally, the BSE IT and Bankex surged 1.7 per cent each. The Capital Goods index was the other notable gainer. On the other hand, Oil & Gas and Power indices slipped over a per cent each.

The overall breadth was marginally positive, with 1,835 stocks advancing versus 1,608 declining shares on the BSE.

In the previous session on Thursday, the Sensex dived 390 points (0.68 per cent) to settle at 57,235. Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty fell 109 points (0.64 per cent) to end at 17,014.

In Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ended higher.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended significantly higher on Thursday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.81 per cent lower at $93.80 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the Indian capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,636.43 crore, as per exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 8 paise to close at 82.32 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, as a firm American currency and risk-averse sentiment among investors weighed on the local unit. During the day, the local unit witnessed a high of 82.12 and a low of 82.43 against the greenback.