Indian equity benchmarks ended higher on Friday, with the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex posting modest gains. Persistent inflation concerns continued to weigh on investor sentiment, even as the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) joined the US Federal Reserve in holding interest rates steady.
The Nifty 50 advanced 116.35 points, or 0.51%, to settle at 23,053.10, while the BSE Sensex climbed 308.49 points, or 0.42%, to close at 74,459.53.
Broader markets, however, remained under pressure, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 250 indices declining by up to 2%, indicating sustained selling in the broader market.
On the sectoral front, Nifty IT rallied over 2% to lead gains among the sectoral indices as a sharp drop in global tech giants, including Alphabet and Intel’s share price, following their earnings, boosted the anti-AI sentiment. Nifty Pharma gained 1.55%. Meanwhile, Nifty Consumer Durables plunged nearly 2%.
Market breadth on the NSE also remained negative. Of the 3,633 stocks traded, 1,013 closed higher, while 2,511 ended in the red and 109 remained unchanged.
