Indian equity benchmarks extended their rally on Friday,
with the Sensex and Nifty surging over 1%, amid a positive trend in global
equities. Buying in Infosys and banking names helped the market maintain its
winning run.

The BSE Sensex rallied 632.13 points or 1.17% to close at
54,884.66. During the day, the benchmark jumped 684.1 points or 1.26% to
54,936.63.

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The NSE Nifty surged 182.30 points or 1.13% to settle at
16,352.45.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index
was up by 1.69%, while the Small cap index was up by 1.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by
2.38%, TECK up by 1.84%, Capital Goods up by 1.69%, Industrials up by 1.58% and
Auto up by 1.50%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.88%, PSU down by 0.62%, Energy
down by 0.54%, Metal down by 0.48% and Utilities down by 0.23% were the top
losing indices on BSE.

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Top gainers from the Sensex pack were Tech Mahindra up by
4.10, IndusInd Bank up by 3.23%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.98%, Wipro up by 2.98%,
M&M up by 2.67%, Infosys up by 2.60%, Larsen up by 2.46%, Bajaj Finserv up
by 2.35%, HCL Tech up by 2.32% and Hindustan Unilever up by 2.15%.

Among the losers were NTPC down by 2.43%, Bharti Airtel
down by 1.24%, Power Grid down by 0.97%, Tata Steel down by 0.81%, Reliance
Industries down by 0.47%, Asian Paints down by 0.33%, and Nestle down by 0.17%.

The rupee inched 2 paise higher to close at 77.59 against
the US dollar.

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Among Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong
ended higher.

European exchanges were also trading higher in the
afternoon trade.

US Stock market had ended significantly higher on
Thursday.

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“Joining the global rally, the investors were in a
buying mood following favourable retail earnings in the US. Receding FII
selling also provided comfort to the domestic market in bringing down volatility,”
said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark gained 0.95%
to USD 118.5 per barrel.

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According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors continued their selling spree as they offloaded shares worth a net Rs
1,597.84 crore on Thursday.