Nifty ends above 11,600, Sensex jumps 350 points

The Indian stock market witnessed some handsome gains led by rally in banking stocks. 

Sensex settled at 39,467.31, up 353.84 points or 0.90%, while Nifty advanced 96 points or 0.83% to end at 11,655.25.

IndusInd Bank, closing 10% higher, was the top Sensex gainer followed by Axis Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank. Power Grid, Infosys, HUL, Maruti and Asian Paints were among the laggards. Of 30 Sensex shares 17 closed in the green.

Global equities were mixed after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will remain accommodative and shift to a more relaxed approach on inflation. However, lack of specifics disappointed markets, analysts said.

"Global markets were trading uncertain following the US Fed Reserve's policy shift to focus on economic growth and less on inflation. However, the indication that the US Fed would continue to let interest rates remain low and expectation of more stimulus to follow, boosted the Indian markets.

"The stimulus and the associated liquidity are important to our markets since that has been one of the drivers for the current stock market run. As per NSDL, FPI net investments into equity, as a whole, have been around Rs 45,000 crore, which makes it one of the best months for net inflows," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

BSE bankex, telecom, finance, oil and gas, energy and realty indices rallied as much as 4 per cent, while auto, utilities, IT, FMCG and metal closed lower.

In the broader markets, the BSE mid-cap index rose 0.55 per cent, while the small-cap gauge fell 0.23 per cent.

Strong foreign fund inflows, led by high global liquidity and decline in US dollar, also fuelled the markets, traders said.

Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth a net Rs 1,164.32 crore on Thursday, exchange data showed.

The rupee soared 43 paise to end at 73.39 against the US dollar on Friday.

In rest of Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended with gains. Japan's Nikkei tumbled after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned due to health reasons.

(With inputs from agencies)