The NSE index Nifty ended at an all-time high of 10,167.45 and the Sensex rallied to an over two-month high as steady inflation and strong IIP numbers propped up investor sentiment.
Industrial output hit a nine-month high of 4.3 per cent in August and CPI inflation held steady at 3.28 per cent in September, instead of accelerating as expected, raising tentative hopes the central bank would be less hawkish about interest rates.
Although analysts still expected the Reserve Bank of India to keep rates steady in the months ahead, they said further signs of steady inflation would raise the odds of a rate cut.
The NSE index ended higher by 71.05 points or 0.7 per cent at 10,167.45, its highest close ever, after having hit a record high of 10,191.90 intraday. The index was up 1.81 per cent for the week.
The benchmark BSE index closed higher by 250.47 points or 0.78 per cent at 32,432.69. It rose 1.94 per cent for the week, its biggest such gain since the week ended July 14.
Among BSE sectoral indices, banking index gained the most by 1.33 per cent, followed by TECk 1.23 per cent, metal 1.17 per cent and realty 0.54 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was down 0.29 per cent, FMCG 0.25 per cent, capital goods and oil & gas 0.14 per cent each.
Top five Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel (+7.89%), Tata Steel (+2.86%), Kotak Bank (+2.2%), Coal India (+2.00%) and HDFC Bank (+1.89%), while the major losers were Dr Reddy's (-1.09%), M&M (-0.95%), Sun Pharma (-0.87%), ITC (-0.43%) and Maruti (-0.41%).
Bharti Airtel rose as much as 8.1 per cent to its highest since August 29 and was the top percentage gainer on both the indexes, while Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd jumped 9.1 per cent.
Upbeat second-quarter results pushed the shares of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) to their highest since June 7. While quarterly profit slid marginally year-on-year, analysts say margin recovery was the key positive.
Meanwhile, Reliance Industries climbed as much as 2.1 per cent to a record high ahead of its September-quarter results. Analysts expect higher earnings from the Indian oil-to-telecoms conglomerate's core petrochemical business, while gross refining margins are expected to remain largely flat
Asian stocks held firm near a 10-year high on Friday thanks to expectations of brisk global growth, although investors held off chasing the shares higher ahead of US and Chinese economic data as well as the Chinese Communist Party congress next week.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 per cent, having gained 3.4 per cent so far this month. Japan’s Nikkei was little changed.