Stock Market: Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains For Sixth Straight Day; Bank Stocks Lead

Stock update: UltraTech Cement, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Titan Company, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Hindustan Unilever were the lead gainers on the BSE

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index dropped 0.2 per cent, however, the BSE SmallCap index advanced 0.2 per cent.

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Sensex and Nifty, the two key benchmarks, on Friday extended their winning run for the sixth straight session as the BSE Sensex climbing over 390 points to settle above the 56,000-mark, mostly led by gains in the banking stocks.

The BSE Sensex surged 390 points (0.70 per cent) to end at 56,072. It advanced 504 points to 56,186 during intra-day trade. The broader NSE Nifty settled 114 points (0.69 per cent) up to 16,719.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, UltraTech Cement, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Titan Company, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Hindustan Unilever were the lead gainers. On the flipside, Infosys, NTPC, Power Grid, Wipro, and IndusInd Bank were the major laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index dropped 0.2 per cent, however, the BSE SmallCap index advanced 0.2 per cent.

On NSE, 11 out of the 15 sector gauges settled in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank and Financial Services outperformed the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.49 per cent and 1.55 per cent, respectively. Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma fell as much as 0.62 per cent and O.27 per cent, each.

The overall market breadth stood slightly positive as 1,787 shares advanced, while 1,535 declined on the BSE.

In the previous session on Thursday, Sensex rose 284 points (0.51 per cent) to end at 55,682, while Nifty had moved 84 points (0.51 per cent) higher to close at 16,605.

Meanwhile, in Asian markets, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled higher, while Seoul and Shanghai ended lower. Markets in Europe were also trading in the positive zone during mid-session deals. The US equity markets had ended higher on Thursday.

"Increased foreign investment and solid quarterly results are increasing domestic demand. Among broad-based buying, banking stocks outshined due to healthy quarterly earnings. European markets traded with modest gains, while investors digested the latest ECB monetary policy as it joined the global peers in policy tightening," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.51 per cent to $103.33 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers on Thursday, buying shares worth Rs 1,799.32 crore, as per exchange data.