Sensex rallies over 500 points to finish at 37,930, Nifty comfortably above 11,400

The benchmark BSE Sensex on Friday jumped over 500 points while the NSE Nifty was up 150 points to finish near their day's high level amid value-buying in banking, IT and metal stocks, despite global headwinds. Ahead of the May 23 Lok Sabha verdict, the 30-share index was trading 537.29 points, or 1.44 per cent, higher at 37,930.77. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 150.10 points, or 1.33 per cent, to settle at 11,407.20 in the closing trade.

Top gainers in Friday's trade include Zee Entertainment, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Hero Motocorp and Maruti Suzuki, while Yes Bank, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Vedanta, Hindalco and Infosys were among the losers. Talking about the sectors, auto and FMCG index reported 2.5 percent gain followed by bank and Infra, while selling witnessed in IT, metal and pharma sectors.

To be precise, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Auto ended up to 6.09 per cent higher after posting strong quarterly numbers. Whereas, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, Kotak Bank, HDFC, HUL, M&M, HDFC Bank, ITC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Coal India, SBI, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints reported 4.26 per cent gain ahead of the exit poll results scheduled for Sunday, May 19.

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On the other hand, Yes Bank, Vedanta, Infosys, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, TCS and NTPC ended up to 2.36 per cent lower.

According to traders, value buying in recently battered stocks lifted key indices. Broader indices followed the benchmarks, with the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices settling in the green. While Japanese stocks ended higher, bourses in China and Korea ended in the red amid the US-China trade conflict. European equities too opened significantly lower.

The Indian rupee depreciated by 16 paise to 70.20 against the US dollar intra-day. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.26 per cent higher at USD 72.81 per barrel.