Sen sex, Nifty end week at fresh peaks

NEW DELHI: Extending its winning run for the fifth session, equity benchmark Sensex finished at a fresh lifetime peak on Friday after the Reserve Bank kept interest rates unchanged but continued its accommodative stance and announced fresh liquidity measures to revive growth.

The 30-share BSE benchmark briefly crossed the 51,000-level, before ending 117.34 points or 0.23% higher at its fresh closing record of 50,731.63.

Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty scaled the 15,000 mark during the day but shed some ground to close at its all-time high of 14,924.25, up 28.60 points or 0.19%.

SBI was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 10.69%, followed by Kotak Bank, Dr Reddy's, UltraTech Cement, ITC and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Maruti and HCL Tech were among the laggards, tumbling up to 3.30%.

Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept interest rates on hold while assuring to maintain support for reflating the economy by ensuring ample liquidity to manage the government's near-record borrowing.

BSE realty, bankex, healthcare, metal, FMCG and finance indices moved up to 0.94%, while telecom, teck, auto, oil and gas and IT ended in the red.

Equity benchmark indices closed higher on Friday but off the record levels of early session post RBI policy