Sensex ends 303 pts higher fueled by Infosys, ICICI Bank; Nifty near 17950

Equity markets staged a firm turnaround intra-day to close Friday's session with nominal gains powered by select index heavyweights such as Infosys, ICICI Bank, TCS and HUL, which gained over 1 per cent each.

Gradual easing in domestic and US retail inflation also aided sentiment and helped narrow the gap-down start. The BSE Sensex recovered 633 points from the day's low and eventually ended 303 points higher at 60,261.

The NSE Nifty closed 98 points up at 17,957 level after bouncing back from the day's lowest level of 17,774. 

Other frontline stocks that supported the recovery included Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Ultratech Cement, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, Airtel, Adani Enterprises, Eicher Motors and BPCL, which gained 1-2 per cent. 

On the flip side, top losers across the two benchmark indices included Titan, Nestle, ITC, L&T, Reliance and Apollo Hospitals. 

The broader markets closed with slimmer gains. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended 0.09 and 0.2 per cent higher, respectively. 

Within sectors, barring consumer durables, PSB and Metal indices on the Nifty logged in most gains, up over 1 per cent each, followed by IT and financial pockets. 

Among stocks, HCL Tech firmly recovered the day's losses and ended with a 0.4 per cent gain. Check how analysts read its Q3 results.

L&T Technology Services slumped 5.3 per cent on its plan to buy the smart world & communications business (SWC) from its parent L&T.  

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