Sensex closes 548 points higher; Nifty at 10,901; ONGC, Titan, RIL top gainers

Sensex and Nifty ended the week on a bullish note on Friday, amid positive global equities, backed by heavy buying in bank and oil & gas stocks.

Sensex ended 548 points higher to 37,020 and Nifty closed 161 points higher at 10,901. Led by bullish Asian and European stock markets, domestic markets closed higher suppressing the concerns over surging domestic coronavirus cases that crossed the 1 million mark. Yesterday, Sensex closed 419 points higher at 36,471 and Nifty gained 121 points to 10,739.

Tata Steel, followed by ONGC, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, HUL, HDFC duo, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were among the top gainers.

On the other hand, Infosys, TCS, M&M and Tech Mahindra were among the laggards.

Nifty bank ended 2% higher, followed by a 1.8% rise registered in auto, pharma and PSU Bank and over 1% gain in media.

Metal stocks led gains, with the Nifty metals index rising 2.5%. Steelmakers like Tata Steel and JSW Steel advanced about 3.5% each, trading as top gainers on NSE today.

IT stocks were among top laggards sector-wise, as the index slipped into the red after two days of straight gains. The Nifty IT index fell 1.2%, followed by a fall of 1.8% each in Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services.

Overseas, Asian shares and US stock futures bounced back on Friday as hopes of more government spending globally and hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine boosted investor sentiment. Although, gains were under check by the concerns about rising new coronavirus case numbers and worsening tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Meanwhile, companies set to announce their Q1 earnings are ICICI Lombard, Coffee Day Enterprises, Granules India.

On the currency front, Rupee ended higher at 75.02 per dollar as against the earlier close of 75.19 per dollar. On rupee's near term outlook, Sugandha Sachdeva VP-Metals, Energy & Currency Research, Religare Broking said, "The bias for the rupee is skewed towards appreciation, at least in the near term, on the back of persistent inflows and hopes of a potential coronavirus vaccine. We think the rupee can appreciate towards 74 levels in the near term as the dollar index has weakened and equity rally suggests room for more inflows. For the time being, 75.50 should act as a strong cushion level for the domestic currency. A possible standoff between the U.S. and China, or aggressive RBI intervention, however, can lead to a break below these levels."

Worldwide, the number of COVID-19 cases linked to the disease has crossed 1.37 crore. In India, the number of infections spiked over 10 lakh.

Jhunjhunwalas sell 1.46 lakh shares of this food distribution firm

Share Market LIVE: Sensex rises 115 points, Nifty at 10,790; BPCL, ONGC, JSW Steel, Tata Steel top gainers