Mumbai, May 21 (IANS): Hopes of a fresh domestic stimulus along with healthy quarterly results and value buying pushed India's key equity indices higher on Friday.
Accordingly, both the key indices opened on a positive note and maintained their gains.
Globally, stocks steadied on Friday after a volatile week, taking their lead from a stronger Wall Street as US data moderated inflation fears, while the dollar approached three-month lows on reduced bets of early Federal Reserve rate hikes.
On the domestic front, banking stocks were the main gainers followed by telecom, power and realty.
Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex closed the day's trade at 50,540.48, higher by 975.62 points, or 1.97 per cent, from its previous close.
Similarly, the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange ended the trade session at 15,175.30, up 269.25 points, or 1.81 per cent, from its previous close.
"Hopes of a fresh stimulus and the transfer of surplus of Rs.99122 cr by the Central Bank to the GOI, boosted sentiments on the street. Also encouraging PMI data from across the globe and falling Covid cases locally helped lift trader spirits," said Deepak Jasani- Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
"Nifty closed the week higher by 3.4 per cent, its best weekly gain since February. Now the Nifty is on the way to reach the earlier high. 14928-14984 is the new support band for the Nifty while 15336-15432 is the resistance."
According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: "Domestic equities witnessed strong rebound after being lacklustre for two days following the weak global market. The easing covid concerns, appreciation in INR and recent positive global data helped the market."
"The volatility index is reducing gauging outperformance to continue. All sectors were in positive territory with financial stocks leading the rally supported by strong Q4 results of largest PSUB SBI and RBI's Central Board meeting."
In addition, Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said: "Domestically, Nifty after its back-to back two day fall, rallied smartly led by positive global cues and strong results posted by SBI."
"Further the new daily covid cases which remained below the 3L mark for the fifth day in a row, kept the sentiments buoyant as it raised hopes of lifting of lockdown soon."