A rally in IT stocks as well as renewed optimism that the US Federal Reserve would pause rate hikes after July propelled benchmark indices to fresh closing highs on Friday, even as Chandrayaan-3 rocketed up on India’s third mission to the moon.

The Nifty50 index ended 0.8 per cent higher at 19,564.50 points while the BSE Sensex ended at 66,060.90 points.

In the broader market almost all the sectoral indices closed in the green.

Frontline IT stocks such as Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra contributed more than 100 points to the Nifty index. It was the third weekly rise for the index, and it is up 1.2 per cent during the week. The Nifty IT Index was up 4.5 per cent. There is optimism in the IT sector that the worst is behind them with the companies reporting a strong deal pipeline indicating good revenue visibility ahead.

“...most of the negatives have been priced in and valuation looks attractive at this juncture,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

The Nifty50 opened up in the morning with a gap and traded in a narrow range for most of the day before suddenly spurting in the last half hour of the session.

“Nifty is likely to continue its uptrend now that 19,500 is taken out. The support for Nifty now shifts to 19,400 from 19,300 after a strong closing today,” said Ashwin Ramani, derivatives, and technical analyst at SAMCO Securities.

The Nifty Bank index that was a relative underperformer during the week staged a recovery in the last hour of trading. Small cap stocks saw buying and the index ended 1.3 per cent higher. The Nifty 500 also closed up 0.9 per cent.

“With the continued positive catalysts, such as softer inflation readings in the US and expectations of a pause in rate hikes by the Fed, the bulls are likely to remain in control,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

Analysts said that there was room for further upside in the markets and the 20,000-mark was not far off for the Nifty.

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