The benchmark indices the Sensex and the Nifty ended Friday's session on a high, registering nearly 2 per cent gains during the day.

At the close the BSE Sensex was at 21,919.79, up 405.92 points or 1.89 per cent higher than its previous close. The NSE Nifty was at 6,526.65, up 125.50 points or 1.96 per cent.

Yesterday, the Sensex closed at a historic high of 21,514, a day after the Election Commission notified the schedule of the general elections from April 7.

The majority of BSE sectoral indices, with the exception of the technology, FMCG and healthcare indices, were in positive territory. The prominent gainers were banking (up 5.35 per cent), capital goods (4.05 per cent), realty (5.40 per cent), oil and gas (3.65 per cent), power (1.81 per cent) and metals (1.66 per cent).

The top gainers on the BSE Sensex were BHEL, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, RIL, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank. The prominent losers were Sun Pharma, Infy, Wipro and Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

The top five gainers on the Nifty were DLF, JP Associates, BHEL, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank.

The Volatility index, India Vix, was at 16.39, up 13.26 per cent.

Brokers said frenzied buying by funds and retail investors, driven by the country’s shrinking current account deficit and a firming trend in global markets, helped the Sensex and Nifty scale lifetime highs.

Asian indices moved up, taking their cue from global markets that gained ahead of the release of US jobs data later today. The Nikkei, Shanghai index, the Straits Times index, and ASX 200 were in positive territory, while the Shanghai index slipped into the red in late trading.

European indices FTSE-100, DAX and CAC-40 were in the green.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday's session up 0.38 per cent and the S&P 500 finished up 0.17 per cent.

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