Sensex rises over 150 points, Nifty crosses 11,550; Bharti Airtel, NTPC, L&T top gainers

The Sensex and Nifty started on a positive note on Friday led by gains in banking and capital goods stocks. While the Sensex rose over 167 points to 38,553, Nifty gained 32 points to 11,552. Bharti Airtel (3.75%), NTPC (2.40%) and L&T (1.56%) were the top Sensex gainers.

Top Sensex losers were TCS (1.08%), ONGC (0.70%) and HCL Tech (0.56%). On Wednesday, the 30-share Sensex closed 23.28 points or 0.06 per cent higher to 38,386.75. The broader NSE Nifty, however, ended 11.35 points, or 0.10 per cent, lower at 11,521.05

Meanwhile, the mid cap and small cap indices were trading 59 points and 51 points higher in early trade.

Market breadth was positive with 833 stocks trading higher compared to 485 falling on the BSE.

Banking and capital goods stocks led the gains with their indices rising 144 points and 233 points, respectively.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 1771 crore on Wednesday, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1323 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Global markets

Technology companies powered a broad rally for U.S. stocks Thursday, snapping the market's two-day losing streak.

The S&P 500 index rose 30.65 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,854.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 216.84 points, or 0.8 percent, to 25,962.51

The Nasdaq composite, which his heavily weighted with technology stocks, climbed 109.99 points, or 1.4 percent, to 7,838.96. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 19.25 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,562.41.

Asian stocks were trading marginally lower with Nikkei and Taiwan T Sec 50 index falling 0.22% and 0.01%, respectively.

However, Australian ASX was trading 34 points higher at 6,287 level.

Edited by Aseem Thapliyal