Domestic markets maintained momentum and ended at a three-week high on Friday, as information technology stocks, too, participated in the rally.

After rising as high as 0.70 per cent, the NSE Nifty 50 index closed the day at 17,833.35, higher 0.19 per cent over the previous day's close. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.18 per cent to 59,793.4. In the broader market, the BSE Smallcap gained 0.18 per cent and the Midcap index 0.16 per cent.

Weekly gains of 1.7%

For the week, both the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty jumped around 1.7 per cent, their first weekly gain in three, on the back of heavy buying by foreign institutional investors. With global markets also joing the party, ignoring US Fed's repeated hawkish voices, domestic markets remained firm.

According to analysts, big investors have also switched from recent outperforming sectors which led to profit booking in the market today. "Fresh buying was witnessed in IT and metals, while profit booking was seen in cement, real estate and consumer stocks," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head–Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

FPIs net buy ₹2,132 crore

Foreign portfolio investors have turned buyers once again on expectations of India's better show among global peers, and fall in crude oil prices.

Foreign portfolio investors were net buyers to the tune of ₹2,132 crore on Friday, even as domestic investors pulled out ₹1,167.56 crore.

Tech Mahindra was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, jumping 3.32 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Infosys, HCL Tech, Maruti, SBI, TCS and Wipro. However UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the losers.

Broad-base interest

The Nifty IT index added 2.2 per cent followed by BSE Teck 1.59 per cent, BSE Bank 0.51 per cent and BSE metal 0.50 per cent. However, basic materials, telecom, utilities and capital goods closed lower.

Buyer interest

After hitting a high of around 18,000 on August 18, Nifty has seen a time-wise corrective phase where the index has traded within a broad range, said Ruchit Jain, Lead Research, 5paisa.com. "However, our markets have relatively outperformed other global indices which have corrected during this period. Now, although Nifty is still below the 18,000 mark, many other indices have already surpassed their respective swing highs which indicates a buying interest in the broader markets," he added.

"Domestic markets are likely to remain firm on the back of healthy macro data, strong institutional flows and improvement in festive demand," Khemka said