Key domestic equity indices reached their new three-month highs on Friday, as better than expected quarterly results, along with healthy buying in banking and capital goods stocks enhanced investors' risk-taking appetite.Even positive global cues, and a massive influx of investments by domestic institutional investors (DII) supported the indices' northward trajectory.Accordingly, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,692.30 points, up 74.50 points or 0.70 per cent from the previous close.Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE ended higher. The Sensex, which opened at 34,747.04 points, closed at 34,969.70 points -- up 256.10 points or 0.74 per cent -- from the previous session's close.It touched a high of 35,065.37 and a low of 34,744.73 points during the intra-day trade.The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,401 advances and 1,234 declines. The market breadth in the NSE, too, was bullish during the day.In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index rose by 0.79 per cent and the small-cap index closed higher by 0.42 per cent."Markets closed higher on Friday led by buying in bank shares and favourable global cues. Both the Sensex and the Nifty closed at their highest levels in more than 12 weeks," said Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities."All the Asian markets have closed on a positive note.
European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX currently traded in the green," Jasani told IANS.Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager, Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, said: "Stock markets in India witnessed a gap up opening today and continued to trade firm through the day. Encouraging Q4 numbers and positive global cues buoyed investor sentiment and pushed the Sensex to flirt with the psychologically important 35,000 level.""Global sentiment was also upbeat after treasury yields in the US pulled back and the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged," he added.On the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened by nine paise to 66.67 against the US dollar from its previous close at 66.76.In terms of investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 759.21 crore, while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 633.71 crore.Sector-wise, the S&P BSE banking index surged by 559.54 points, followed by the capital goods index by 266.43 points, and the oil and gas index by 152.15 points.On the other hand, the S&P BSE IT index fell by 142.99 points, the consumer durables by 55.31 points and the Teck (technology, media and entertainment) index by 52.62 points.The major gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank, up 8.97 per cent at Rs 538.90; State Bank of India, up 3.99 per cent at Rs 242.65; ICICI Bank, up 3.34 per cent at Rs 288.05; Sun Pharma, up 2.28 per cent at Rs 524.25; and Larsen and Toubro, up 2.23 per cent at Rs 1,377.00 per share.The top losers were Tata Consultancy Services, down 2.42 per cent at Rs 3,454.80; Wipro, down 2.17 per cent at Rs 275.35; Maruti Suzuki, down 1.90 per cent at Rs 8,777.95; Coal India, down 1.64 per cent at Rs 285.55; and Hero MotoCorp, down 1.20 per cent at Rs 3,711.65 per share.