The Sensex and Nifty marked record closing highs on Friday, with the broader NSE index breaching the 10,500 mark for the first time ever, bolstered by gains in IT stocks such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

The 50-share NSE index Nifty ended higher by 52.7 points or 0.5 per cent 10,493, while the 30-share BSE index Sensex closed up 184.02 points or 0.55 per cent at 33,940.30. For the week, the NSE index rose 1.6 per cent, while the BSE index clocked a 1.4 per cent gain, posting their third straight weekly gain.

Infosys Ltd finished 1.6 per cent higher and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd rose 1.7 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, IT index gained the most by 1.31 per cent, followed by TECk 1.02 per cent, capital goods 0.93 per cent and infrastructure 0.89 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index was down 0.58 per cent and metal 0.06 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were ONGC (+2.87%), TCS (+1.76%), Infosys (+1.65%), Bajaj Auto (+1.6%) and Bharti Airtel (+1.36%), while the major losers were Dr Reddy's (-0.8%), Coal India (-0.75%), Tata Steel (-0.68%), IndusInd Bank (-0.64%) and Hero MotoCorp (-0.61%).

Fresh spell of buying after new data pointed to a steady growth in the US economy also boosted the domestic sentiment.

Gainers, losers

Financial stocks such as Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC) boosted the indexes after it said it is selling two of its units to Quikr India.

Mortgage lender HDFC said it is selling HDFC Developers and HDFC Realty to online classified advertising platform Quikr India and added it has bought a stake in Quikr. Housing Development Finance Corp ended up by 0.23 per cent.

Among the gainers, state-run lenders such as State Bank of India ended up 1.41 per cent. Refining stocks such as Reliance Industries Ltd gained, as oil prices dipped away from 2015 highs reached in the previous session weighed down by rising US output. Reliance Industries was up 0.6 per cent.

“Things are looking reasonably good. Earnings are expected to be decent. Some of the key concerns like the fear that BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) might lose Gujarat elections, implications of flattening yields in the US, crude oil concerns or domestic inflation..all these seem to have abated," said Sunil Sharma, chief investment officer at Sanctum Wealth Management.

“Investors are getting comfortable with valuations. As long as growth comes through, markets are going to move higher, although at a gradual pace.”

Asian stocks edged up on new data pointing to steady growth in the US economy, while the euro slipped after a vote in Catalonia favoured separatists wanting to break away from Spain. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.25 per cent higher.

The region's equities took cues from Wall Street, after all three major indexes posted gains overnight on strength in bank and energy stocks and news the US economy grew in the third quarter at its fastest pace in more than two years.

Supporting US stocks this week, and by extension global equities, was the passage of $1.5 trillion tax-cutting bill through Congress. Australian stocks advanced 0.4 percent, South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.15 percent and Japan's Nikkei stood little changed.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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