Stock market closed: Greenery in the stock market, Sensex at 316 points, Nifty crosses 25,550.

Mumbai. The stock markets regained momentum on Friday and BSE Sensex closed with a gain of 316 points while Nifty closed above 25,550. Markets were supported by buying in banking and metals stocks, along with optimism over progress in the trade deal and news of India’s participation in ‘Pax Silica’. BSE’s benchmark index Sensex based on 30 shares closed at 82,814.71 points, rising 316.57 points or 0.38 percent.

At one time during trading it had increased by 633.94 points to reach 83,132.08 points. NSE’s 50-share standard index Nifty closed at 25,571.25 points with a gain of 116.90 points or 0.46 percent. During trading it jumped 209.2 points to reach a high of 25,663.55 points.

Sensex fell 1,236.11 points and NSE Nifty fell 365 points on Thursday due to indiscriminate selling of shares by investors amid geopolitical concerns. On Friday, among the 30 companies included in the Sensex, shares of NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever, PowerGrid, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharat Electronics Limited, Bajaj Finance, Titan, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank and IndiGo were the biggest gainers. On the other hand, shares of Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Eternal, HCL Technologies, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Adani Ports were among the losers.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said, “Indian stock markets made a strong comeback after the huge fall a day earlier. Strong buying was seen in big stocks. Clear signals on trade agreement and India’s entry into ‘Pax Silica’ have boosted investor confidence. Nair said the rise in shares of banking and metal companies also helped the market make a comeback.

Other markets in Asia mainly declined. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 1.10 percent while Japan’s Nikkei closed down 1.07 percent. However, South Korea’s Kospi closed with a gain of 2.31 percent. Chinese markets remained closed due to the Lunar New Year holiday. In European markets, Germany’s DAX, Paris’ CAC 40 and London’s FTSE 100 were trading with gains of about one percent in afternoon trade on Friday.

American stock markets closed with a decline on Thursday. The price of international standard Brent crude fell by 0.31 percent to $ 71.44 per barrel. According to stock market data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were sellers on Thursday and sold shares worth Rs 880.49 crore. At the same time, domestic institutional investors also made a net sale of shares worth Rs 596.28 crore.