Nifty Settles Above 18,000; Sensex Rises 123 Points To Close Above 62,000 Mark

The Benchmark BSE Sensex recovered from early lows to close at a five-month high on Friday, led by gains in the banking and auto sectors ahead of the release of key inflation data.

The 30-share index rose 123.38 points or 0.20 percent to settle at 62,027.90, its best close since December 12, 2022.

The barometer opened lower due to early weakness in the energy, power, and IT sectors, and it reached a low of 61,578.15 in the day trade. Later, it recovered with purchases of financial and auto stocks, reaching a high of 62,110.93 points.

The broader NSE Nifty rose 17.80 points or 0.1 percent to 18,314.80 points.

Among the other gainers were IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HUL, Bajaj Finance, and HCL Tech.

PowerGrid was the most affected, falling 2.67 percent, followed by NTPC (2.34 percent) and Tata Steel (1.43 percent). Nestle, Sun Pharma, Infosys, L&T, Kotak Bank, TCS, and Wipro also refused.

Most Asian markets closed lower on looming concerns about US banks and weak Chinese demand. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 0.5 percent, the Shanghai Composite by 1 percent, and Kospi in South Korea fell 0.7 percent. the Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.9 percent.

On Thursday, the US market concluded mostly in red.

The domestic inflation data for the month of April and industrial production for March are expected to be released later in the day.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.45 percent to $74.59 per barrel.

According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net purchasers on Thursday, purchasing stocks worth Rs 837.21 crore.

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