Bourses settle higher for 2nd straight day as Sensex jumps 203 pts, Nifty ends over 17,780

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks ended higher on Friday helped by buying in index major Reliance Industries along with fresh foreign fund inflows.

Extending its previous day's rally, the 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 203.01 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 59,959.85. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 49.85 points or 0.28 per cent to end at 17,786.80 .

In the Sensex pack, Maruti, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major winners.

Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India were among the laggards.

The BSE smallcap gauge fell by 0.62 per cent and midcap index dipped 0.41 per cent.

However, metal fell by 1.44 per cent, commodities declined by 1.08 per cent, IT (0.76 per cent), bankex (0.72 per cent) and telecommunication (0.55 per cent).

Meanwhile, the rupee declined by 14 paise to close at 82.47 against the US dollar on Friday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.84 per cent lower at $96.15 per barrel. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Thursday as they bought shares worth Rs 2,818.40 crore, as per exchange data.