Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, managed to settle in the green on Friday, with the Sensex climbing over 59 points as fag-end volatility erased most of the day’s gains.
The domestic indices became largely range-bound on the bourses and trimmed the gains as investors remained jittery. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will deliver his speech on rate-hike path later in the day.
According to traders, a largely firm trend in global markets and foreign fund inflows propped up the bourses.
The BSE Sensex rose 59 points to end at 58,833. During the day, it jumped 546 points to 59,321.65, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 36 points to finish at 17,558.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, NTPC, Titan, Power Grid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the major gainers. On the flip side, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Asian Paints, and Bharti Airtel were the major laggards.
In the broader markets, the Nifty MidCap 100 and the Nifty SmallCap 100 ended day’s trade 0.7 per cent higher.
Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index rose 1.7 per cent, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank index, up 1 per cent, while the Nifty Private bank index fell 0.3 per cent.
In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE benchmark declined 310 points (0.53 per cent) to settle at 58,774, while the Nifty dropped 82 points (0.47 per cent) to end at 17,522.
“Investors’ lack of confidence and caution in anticipation of the Fed chair’s remarks led to a significant sell-off towards the close of the session. Western markets are trading with cuts as they await clues on further policy actions by the Fed to tame elevated inflation. This is expected to impact demand,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong ended in the positive zone, while Shanghai closed with losses. Stock markets in Europe were trading lower during mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended with gains on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.14 per cent to $100.5 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 369.06 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.