The stock market finally broke out of its downward spiral on Friday, finishing the day up nearly 2 per cent. The Sensex rose steadily through the day, closing at 24,435.66, up 473 points, while the Nifty closed at 7,422.45, up 145 points. Foreign investors in Indian equity were buoyed by a 5 per cent rise in Brent crude above $30 a barrel and a hint of more monetary easing by the European central bank starting March.
Sentiment was also boosted by increased buying of the rupee, which gained 0.47 per cent (35 paise) to close at 67.63.
The upward swing was broad-based, with all sectoral indices in the green. The BSE Midcap Index gained 1.9 per cent while the Smallcap index outperformed all others, moving up 2.25 per cent.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of equity worth ₹769.83 crore while domestic institutions were net buyers of ₹915.60 crore equity. Retail investors on the BSE bought net equity of ₹24.14 crore.