Bourses extend gains for 5 day in row; oil & gas, metal stocks shine

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 130 points while Nifty extended gains for a fifth straight session in a range-bound trade on Friday as oil and gas, metal and power shares advanced.

Recovering from its early losses, the 30-share BSE index ended 130.18 points or 0.22 per cent higher at 59,462.78 as 13 of its constituents ended in the green.

The broader NSE Nifty advanced 39.15 points or 0.22 per cent to close at 17,698.15, marking its fifth straight session of gains.

Oil & gas, metal and power stocks ended with gains whereas healthcare and IT stocks declined.

The key indices also registered their fourth straight week of gains as Sensex rose by 1,074 per cent or 1.83 per cent and Nifty by 300 points or 1.95 per cent on weekly basis.

A largely positive trend in global equities and foreign capital inflows also supported the domestic equity markets, traders said. However, IT and healthcare stocks remained a drag on the indices,

they added.

Brokers said investors picked up fundamentally strong stocks ahead of the Index of Industrial Production and the consumer inflation data to be released after market hours.

NTPC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing 3.26 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, SBI and ITC.

Reliance Industries rose by 1.64 per cent as oil prices recovered.

On the other hand, Infosys, Maruti, L&T, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and HUL were among the laggards. Infosys fell the most by 1.56 per cent among Sensex

shares.

Market breadth was in favour of the bears, with 17 of the 30 Sensex counters registering losses.