Stock Market: Sensex Snaps Four-Day Losing Run, Rises 345 Points, Nifty Ends Near 16,050; FMCG, Auto Lead

Stock update: Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, and Bharti Airtel were the major gainers on the BSE

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Friday snapped their four-day losing streak and ended in the green for the first time in the week. The BSE Sensex rebounded by 344 points while Nifty closed above the 16,000 level in choppy trade, on renewed buying interest from foreign funds and firm global trends.

The BSE Sensex climbed 344 points (0.65 per cent) to settle at 53,760. During the day, it jumped 395 points to 53,811. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 110 points (0.69 per cent) to 16,049.

On the 30-share sensex platform, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, and Bharti Airtel were the major gainers. On the flipside, Tata Steel, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Dr Reddy's, and Axis Bank were the laggards.

In the broader markets Midcap and Smallcap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.77 per cent and Smallcap climbed 0.37 per cent.

On NSE, 12 out of the 15 sector gauges settled in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty FMCG and Nifty Auto outperformed the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.47 per cent and 2.03 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty IT fell as much as 0.81 per cent, 0.43 per cent and 0.15 per cent, each.

The overall market breadth stood positive as 1,776 shares advanced, while 1,505 declined on the BSE.

In the previous trading on Thursday, Sensex had slipped 98 points (0.18 per cent) to close at 53,416, while Nifty had moved 28 points (0.18 per cent) lower to settle at 15,939.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo ended in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled significantly lower. Markets in Europe were trading in the green during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended on a mixed note on Thursday.

"Volatility has re-emerged and investors have turned their focus on upcoming Fed policy in the backdrop of heightened US inflation. Fall in crude prices and reduction in FII selling added optimism to the domestic market while gloomy IT results, depreciating rupee and fear of global recession are restricting sizeable up move," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose by 0.60 per cent to $99.72 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital market on Thursday, buying shares worth Rs 309.06 crore, as per exchange data.