Mumbai, May 31 (IANS): Indian equity benchmark closed in the green on Friday, snapping the losing streak of the last five sessions.

While the Sensex closed at 73,961, up 75 points or 0.10 per cent, the Nifty was up 42 points or 0.19 per cent at 22,530 on Friday.

In a volatile session, the BSE benchmark touched a high of 74,478 and a low of 73,765. During this period, Nifty touched 22,653 on the higher side and 22,465 on the lower end.

The midcap and smallcap stocks performed better compared to the largecap stocks.

The Nifty Midcap closed at 51,705 points, up 278 points or 0.54 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap closed at 16,696 points, up 83 points or 0.50 per cent.

Bank, metal, realty, infra, and energy stocks were the major gainers on Friday, while IT, pharma, FMCG, and media shares were the major losers.

Fifteen out of 30 Sensex stocks closed in red on Friday.

Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, L&T, and ITC were the top gainers, while Nestle, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, Infosys, and Axis Bank were the top losers.

According to market experts, the pre-election trading strategy has come to an end, and all eyes will be on the release of the exit poll figures on Saturday for further action.

Regional diversions, marginally low voter turnout, and strong resistance at the current range are prompting investors to adopt a cautious stance. They are aligning their investments towards fundamentally strong sectors and stocks to safeguard against any abrupt reactions in the market, the market experts noted.

On the global front, the release of inflation data by the US, which is estimated to be high, could sway the market sentiment in the near term.