Sensex rallies 261 points, but ends flat for the week; ONGC, Tata Steel top gainers

The Sensex and Nifty rallied on Friday with IT stocks such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services extending gains for a second day as the rupee hovered near a 16-month low against the dollar. A fall in global crude oil prices and value buying also lifted the key indices.

The Sensex ended at 34,924.87, up 261.76 points, or 0.76 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 10,605.15, showing a hefty gain of 91.30 points, or 0.87 per cent.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex scored a moderate gain of 76.57 points, or 0.22 per cent while the Nifty rose 8.75 points, or 0.08 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices outperformed the benchmarks to gain 1.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. 

Market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned positive. On the BSE, 1,630 stocks rallied, 1,004 stocks declined, while 150 stocks remained unchanged. 

"A less than hawkish US Fed minutes and positive global cues uplifted domestic sentiments. Short covering was broad based across sectors, while some buying interest was seen in mid & small cap stocks. Some respite was seen in INR and oil prices which helped the market to recoup its losses this week," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

The major gainers on the Sensex were ONGC, Tata Steel, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank and Adani Ports while Coal India, ITC, State Bank of India (SBI), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and ICICI Bank were the major losers.

On the Nifty, the top gainers were Indian Oil, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Hindalco Industries. The major losers were Bharti Infratel, Tech Mahindra and Coal India. 

Liquor companies, United Breweries and United Spirits, rose more than 7 per cent each after reporting strong Q4 results late on Thursday.

GAIL (India) also gained about 3.7 percent after reporting a nearly four-fold rise in net profit.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought equities worth Rs 789.78 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 311.11 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.