Mumbai, Dec 22 (IANS): Nifty closed on a positive note on Friday, while most of the sectors closed in the green.

At close on Friday, Nifty was up 94.40 points or 0.44 per cent at 21,349.40, while Sensex was up 241.86 points or 0.34 per cent at 71,106.96.

Nifty Realty and Nifty IT, which were up 2.55 per cent and 2.27 per cent, respectively, were the two sectors that did better on Friday, said Vaibhav Vidwani, Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio.

Since most Indian IT companies have foreign clients and expectations of rate drop by the US Fed may result in an increase in new orders from these clients, the IT industry is optimistic about the prospect of a rate cut in future.

A number of pharmaceutical and diagnostic businesses saw their stock rise on Friday, reaching 52-week highs. The increase follows a recent wave of Covid cases. With the addition of 640 Covid infections in India due to the novel subvariant known as JN.1, there are now 2,997 active cases worldwide.

During the day, the Nifty Pharma index increased by more than 0.96 per cent to reach a 52-week high of 16,500.90, Vidwani said.

Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, and Hindalco Industries were the top Nifty gainers, while Grasim Industries, SBI Life Insurance, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank were the top losers.

Joseph Thomas, Head of Research at Emkay Wealth Management, said bullish markets are interspersed with minor corrections due to myriad of factors, profit booking being one of the critical ones.

With the thinning of institutional participation, the markets witnessed volatility but managed to close on a positive note. Over the near future, the markets may remain volatile, and find its footing only in the New Year as the holiday season ends.