Sensex up 303 pts, Nifty tops 16,200; banks, FMCG shine; metals sole losers

CLOSING BELL: L&T, PowerGrid, NTPC, ICICI Bank, DR Reddy's Labs, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Nestle India were the top large-cap gainers

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: Benchmark indices exhibited range-bound trade on Friday as lack of fresh triggers kept indices directionless. The S&P BSE Sensex remained within a narrow range of 348 points, while the Nifty50 travelled 118 points during the day. 

By close, the 30-pack index settled at 54,482 levels, up 303 points or 0.56 per cent. The Nifty50, meanwhile, shut shop with gains of 88 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 16,221. In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added 0.2 per cent each. 

L&T, PowerGrid, NTPC, ICICI Bank, DR Reddy's Labs, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Nestle India were the top large-cap gainers, while M&M Financial Services, Oil India, SRF, Trent, Uttam Sugar, RateGain, and GR Infra surged in the broader market.

On the flipside, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, Crisil, Ashok Leyland, MFSL, RBL Bank, Ajmera Realty, PSP Projects, and Vakrangee were the top laggards across segments.

Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index was the sole loser, down 0.8 per cent. The Nifty Bank and FMCG indices, meanhile, were the outperformers, up 0.5 per cent each. 

Global markets

European markets were mixed on Friday with the pan-European Stoxx 600 hovering 0.2 per cent above the flatline. US stock futures were slightly lower in early premarket trade, following a rally on Wall Street during the previous session.

Shares in Asia-Pacific closed mostly higher, but Japanese stocks gave back some earlier gains and the yen rose on news that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died.