Continuing a broad recovery, the domestic stock market surged on Friday amid positive global signals. On Friday, the BSE Sensex closed 376.26 points higher at 72,426.64, while the Nifty closed 129.95 points higher at 22,040.70. Meanwhile, the rupee rose by 4 paise against the US dollar to trade at 83.01 (provisional).
Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 22 closed in the green. The biggest gainers were Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors and Maruti, which rose up to 4.79 per cent. The biggest losers were Power Grid, SBI, Reliance, NTPC and Axis Bank, which fell up to 2.36 per cent.
Vinod Nair, Principal (Researcher), Geojit Financial Services, said, “Indian markets continued their broad recovery driven by positive global signals. Moreover, as India's trade deficit narrowed due to falling raw material prices and the government's manufacturing policy, investors turned their attention to capital goods, metals and industrial stocks. Globally, expectations for a recovery in consumer demand in China after the Lunar New Year holiday supported global market sentiment.”
rupee
The rupee rose by 4 paise against the US dollar on Friday to trade at 83.01 (provisional) amid positive sentiment in the domestic stock market and slowing crude oil prices.
But foreign exchange traders said the strength of the U.S. currency and foreign fund outflows limited the domestic currency's sharp rise. In the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.03 and hit an intraday high of 83.00 against the dollar.
The local unit finally settled at 83.01 (provisional) against the dollar, registering a gain of four paise over the previous close.
The rupee fell three paise to 83.05 against the US dollar on Thursday. The Indian rupee gained on positive domestic markets, according to Anuj Choudhary, Sharekhan Research Analyst at BNP Paribas.
The dollar index, which indicates the dollar's strength against six currencies, rose 0.07% to 104.36.