The Sensex and Nifty ended higher as Asian markets hit an 18-month peak and banking stocks recovered from recent losses.
But investors remained wary ahead of key economic data — industrial production (IIP) for December — to be released later today.
The broader NSE index rose 15.15 points or 0.17 per cent to 8,793.55, while the benchmark BSE index closed up 4.55 points or 0.02 per cent to 28,334.25.
The BSE index gained 0.56 per cent for the week, while the NSE index added 0.60 per cent. Both indexes rose for the third straight week.
Among BSE sectoral indices, IT index was the star-performer and was up 2.06 per cent, followed by TECk 1.61 per cent, capital goods 0.42 per cent and banking 0.24 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index fell the most by 0.88 per cent, oil & gas 0.69 per cent, FMCG 0.62 per cent and auto 0.47 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were TCS (+3.12%), Adani Ports (+2.23%), Infosys (+2.1%), Tata Steel (+1.71%) and NTPC (+1.22%), while the major losers were Lupin (-2.06%), ITC (-1.57%), GAIL (-1.53%), Dr Reddy's (-1.5%) and Cipla (-1.3%).
“I feel it's post-budget buying, taking place in certain counters,” said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Shares and Securities.
“Till the end of March we might see this sort of buying taking place and I don't see any major correction in this period.”
With regard to global cues, a firm trend in other Asian bourses, tracking overnight gains in the US markets after President Donald Trump promised to release a much-anticipated plan for tax cuts soon, boosted the trading momentum here.
Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 356.63 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Asian shares were close to 18-month highs on Friday, tracking a rally on Wall Street after US President Donald Trump promised to unveil a major tax announcement to lower the burden on businesses.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 per cent, testing its loftiest level since July 2015 touched a day earlier, and was on track to gain 1.1 for the week.