Markets overcame a mid-session spell of weakness to close with robust gains on Friday as investors accumulated banking, FMCG and metal stocks amid hopes of more measures from the government to bolster growth.
Positive global cues and a strengthening rupee added to the buying momentum, traders said.
After gyrating 568 points during the day, the 30-share Sensex ended 263.86 points, or 0.71 per cent, higher at 37,332.79.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 74.95 points, or 0.68 per cent, to close at 11,023.25.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex advanced 631.63 points or 1.72 per cent, while the Nifty gained 193.90 or 1.79 per cent.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack on Friday included Yes Bank, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, HUL, Vedanta, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, ITC, HDFC and Bajaj Auto, that rose up to 3.75 per cent.
On the other hand, PowerGrid, ONGC, HCL Tech, Kotak Bank, L&T, NTPC, SBI and Asian Paints fell up to 2.12 per cent.
“Markets demonstrated resilience today, in what could be called a reversal day, with indices being down most of the day and ending up strongly at the close. With the government, Finance Ministry and RBI working in tandem, sentiment will recover in time as will growth... Metals, PSUs and FMCG led the rally on the hope of further measures to be announced by the Finance Minister...
“Buoyant global markets supported the gains. India has under-performed emerging market peers as well as the developed markets over the past few months,” said Sunil Sharma, chief investment officer, Sanctum Wealth Management.
Investors were also awaiting the official estimate of GDP growth for Q1 FY20.
Sectorally, BSE metal, FMCG, healthcare, realty, finance, teck and IT indices rose up to 1.77 per cent.
However, power, capital goods and oil and gas indices slipped up to 0.60 per cent.
The broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices followed the benchmarks, ending up to 1.01 per cent higher.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday played down deepening slowdown as just “soft patch mutating into a cyclical downswing”.
In the annual report for FY19, the central bank conceded that diagnosing the exact problems was “difficult”, but reiterated that the issues were not structural in nature.
Global equities moved higher on expectations of a trade truce between the US and China.
In Asia, Hang Seng, Kospi and Nikkei settled on a positive note, while Shanghai Composite Index ended marginally lower.
Equities in Europe were trading higher in their respective early sessions.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee appreciated by 38 paise to close at a two-week high of 71.42 against the US dollar on Friday.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened up at 71.76 and gained further strength to touch a high of 71.38 against the US dollar. The domestic currency finally settled with a gain of 38 paise of 0.53 per cent at 71.42, a level not seen since August 16.
The rupee sentiment revived as concerns over US-China trade friction receded after China said it would not retaliate against the latest US tariffs, dealers said.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.05 per cent to 98.55.
The 10-year government bond yield was up at 6.57 per cent.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.17 per cent to USD 60.39 per barrel.
