Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains For Third Consecutive Day

Indian equity indices finished the week on a higher note today, extending their winning run for the third straight session. Although, stocks in Asian markets turned flat after Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's assassination. He was shot at while campaigning for a parliamentary election.

U.S. stock futures also declined, suggesting a weak start for Wall Street.

Moreover, IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) would kick off the country's first-quarter (Q1) earnings season for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) later in the day.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 303 points or 0.56 per cent to close at 54,482 on Friday, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 88 points or 0.54 per cent higher to settle at 16,221.

Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.28 per cent and small-cap gained 0.31 per cent.

13 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- settled in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank and Nifty FMCG outperformed the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.58 per cent and 0.53 per cent.

However, Nifty Metal showed weakness by falling as much as 0.88 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, L&T was the top Nifty gainer as the stock soared 4.63 per cent to Rs 1,685.70. PowerGrid, Tata Motors, NTPC and SBI Life were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth stood positive as 1,911 shares advanced while 1,374 declined on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, L&T, PowerGrid, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy's, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma and Tech Mahindra were among the top gainers with their shares up as much as 4.56 per cent.

Further, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, rose 1.38 per cent to end at Rs 707.80.

In contrast, Tata Steel, Maruti, IndusInd Bank, TCS, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, M&M, Wipro and HDFC finished in the red.