Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains To 3rd Straight Day As Stocks Rally On Strong Earnings

(RTTNews) - Indian shares turned in a fine performance on Friday, extending their gains to a third straight day, and the key indices Sensex and the Nifty posted gains for a second successive week.

The benchmark BSE Sensex climbed 712.46 points or 1.25 percent, settling at 57,570.25, while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty settled with a gain of 228.65 points or 1.35 percent at 17,158.25.

The Sensex gained nearly 2.7 percent in the week, the best returns in about 11 months. The Nifty had its best week in nearly 20 months. Both Sensex and the Nifty posted multi-month closing highs.

Easing worries about aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, and fairly encouraging earnings updates from across the globe helped underpin sentiment.

Technology, metal, automobile, oil and consumer durables shares recorded impressive gains.

Mphasis, MindTree, Wipro, Infosys, L&T Infotech, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra gained 1 to 3.5 percent.

In the auto sector, TVS Motor rallied nealry 4 percent on turnaround results. Ashok Leyland also closed on strong results.

Tata Motors, Baja Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra gained 1 to 3 percent, while Hero Motocorp advanced nearly 1 percent.

Tata Steel, up nearly 7.5 percent, was the top gainer in the Metal index. The stock moved up sharply a day after turning ex-stock split in the ratio of 1:10.

Welcorp, Hindalco, SAIL, Jindal Steel, Vedanta, National Aluminium, Hindustan Copper, JSW Steel, NMDC and Hind Zinc gained 2 to 6.2 percent.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries shares surged more than 5.5 percent after the company reported a 43 percent rise in first quarter net earnings.

HDFC reported a 22 percent jump in net profit for the first quarter, missing estimates. The stock closed with a gain of about 2.2 percent.

SBI Life soared 8.7 percent after reporting an 18 percent surge in first quarter earnings to Rs 263 crore.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 2100 stocks closed higher and 1227 stocks ended weak, while 144 stocks closed little changed from previous levels.