Sensex recoups early losses, gains 257 pts

Benchmarks weathered volatility to end sharply higher on Friday, propelled by a late-session surge, as investors snapped up healthcare, telecom and financials stocks amid mixed global cues. The BSE Sensex, which was trading flat with a negative bias for the major part of the day, spurted 257.21 points or 0.73 per cent to finish at 35,689.60. The broader NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 10,710.45 and 10,837, ended at 10,821.85, up 80.75 points or 0.75 per cent.

Sentiment was buoyed after data showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who had been net sellers for the past several sessions, were back to buying mode on the domestic bourses.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth ~13.43 billion, while domestic institutional investors provided buying support of ~11.1 billion, according to the provisional data from exchanges. So far this month, FPIs have pulled out over $1 billion from domestic stocks.

Both the Sensex and Nifty posted their fifth straight weekly gains, rising 67.46 points, or 0.19 per cent, and 4.15 points, or 0.04 per cent, respectively.

On the global front, all eyes were on a crucial Opec meet amid indications the oil cartel may agree to a production increase. “Market recouped Thursday’s loses led by outperformance by pharma and banking stocks while appreciation in rupee also gave a positive sentiment to the broad market.

“Oil price rose despite Opec proposal to increase output by 1 mbpd. Investors may like to have a closer view on oil due to global risk. Trade tension and faster pace of tightening by Fed may refrain the market from a decisive uptick,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. Sun Pharma stole the show in the Sensex pack, spurting 3.91 per cent, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra at 2.87 per cent.