After trading positive through the day, equity benchmarks scripted a strong rally to close firm on Friday ahead of the new government formation on Monday.

The benchmark BSE Sensex closed at 24,693, up 319 points or 1.31 per cent. The Nifty settled at 7,367 mark, up 91 points or 1.25 per cent.

On the BSE, except FMCG and consumer durables, all sectoral indices closed in the green led by power and oil and gas sectors closing lower by 3.66 per cent and 2.16 per cent respectively.

Alex Mathews, Head Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said: "The markets remained in the positive zone on the back of buying seen in banking, capital goods, power and realty stocks. SBI came out with good set of numbers, which was well above the street expectation and lifted the overall market sentiment."

Volatility was down and the volatility index stood at 17.76 down around 0.40 per cent.

SBI, Tata Power, Jindal Steel, IDFC and Maruti were the top five Nifty gainers while Kotak Bank, HDFC, Hindalco, ITC and Infosys were the top laggards.

Related Topics