Sensex closed up 181 points on value buying

The biggest gainers in the Sensex pack in Friday's session were Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Vedanta, SBI and Axis Bank, spurting up to 3.05 per cent.
The losers included HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, IndusInd Bank and Sun Pharma, falling up to 1.55 per cent.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Reversing two days of sharp declines, benchmark indices finished with smart gains on Friday on bargain hunting in telecom, metal and banking stocks amid a global relief rally triggered by US-China trade talks.

After swinging over 350 points intra-day, the 30-share BSE Sensex finally settled 181.39 points, or 0.51 per cent, higher at 35,695.10.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty jumped 55.10 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 10,727.35.

However, during the week, the Sensex fell 381.62 points, or 1.05 per cent, and the Nifty shed 132.55 points or 1.22 per cent.

The biggest gainers in the Sensex pack in Friday's session were Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Vedanta, SBI and Axis Bank, spurting up to 3.05 per cent.

The losers included HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, IndusInd Bank and Sun Pharma, falling up to 1.55 per cent.

Sectorally, telecom, metal, utilities and finance indices rallied the most, jumping over 2 per cent.

PSU bank stocks, led by PNB, Union Bank, Bank of India, Andhra Bank and SBI, surged up to 4 per cent.

Global investor sentiment was upbeat after China announced new trade talks with the US.

A US government delegation will visit China early next week for the first face-to-face talks since President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed on a temporary truce in the trade war, China's commerce ministry said.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 972.81 crore Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 34.52 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

"On the last day of the week, the market attempted to recover but with high volatility due to initial signs of ease between US and China trade negotiations. Recent weak data from US and China provided hope to the market that both the parties will try to find a peace soon.

"PSBs led the gains today due to consolidation and increase in capital infusion while IT underperformed due to appreciation in INR," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

The rupee was trading 33 paise higher against the US dollar at 69.87.

Brent crude futures rose 1.59 per cent to $56.84 per barrel.

Elsewhere in Asia, Korea's Kospi ended 0.83 per cent higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 2.24 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.05 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei, on the other hand, dropped 2.26 per cent.

In Europe, Paris CAC was up 1.17 per cent, while Frankfurt's DAX gained 1.72 per cent in their early deals. London's FTSE rose 1.14 per cent.