Indian Stock market closes in GREEN amid positive global cues on Friday; Sensex ends 684.64 points higher

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New Delhi: The Indian stock market`s benchmark Sensex rallied 685 points on Friday led by strong buying support in IT and banking stocks amid positive cues from the global equities. The 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex closed 684.64 points or 1.20 per cent higher at 57,919.97 points against its previous day`s close at 57,235.33 points. Earlier, the Sensex started the day sharply higher at 58,162.74 points and surged to a high of 58,435.12 points in the intra-day. The Sensex pared part of the gains due to profit-taking in the last hour of the trade. It touched a low of 57,848.23 points in the intra-day.

On Thursday, the Sensex had slumped by 390.58 points or 0.68 per cent. The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange surged 171.35 points or 1.01 per cent to close at 17,185.70 points against its previous day`s close at 17,014.35 points.

The Nifty had lost 109.25 points or 0.64 per cent on Thursday. There was strong buying support in IT and banking stocks. The share price of Infosys surged by around 5 per cent a day after the company announced buyback plans and posted a better-than-expected 11 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit.

On the BSE, Infosys share closed 3.82 per cent higher at Rs 1474.05. The trading in Infosys shares started sharply higher at Rs 1487.70 against its previous day`s close at Rs 1419.75. The scrip surged to a high of Rs 1494 in the intra-day.

Infosys shares have rallied after the announcement of the Q2 results. Infosys board of directors at its meeting held here on Thursday approved the buyback of equity shares, from the open market route through the Indian stock exchanges, amounting to Rs 9,300 crore (maximum buyback size, excluding buyback tax) at a price not exceeding Rs 1,850 per share (maximum buyback price), subject to shareholders` approval.

The board also approved an interim dividend of Rs 16.50 per share vs. FY 22 interim dividend of Rs15. The total amount of the interim dividend will be approximately Rs 6,940 crore.India`s second-largest IT services firm said its consolidated net profit surged by 11.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 6,021 crore for the quarter second quarter of the current financial year as compared to Rs 5,421 core recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.HCL Technologies surged 2.08 per cent to Rs 1002.45. Tech Mahindra closed 0.67 per cent higher at Rs 1019.55. However, TCS and Wipro closed in the red after trading with a handsome gain during most part of the day.

HDFC duo - HDFC Bank and HDFC - both rallied by around three per cent. HDFC Bank soared 3.40 per cent to Rs 1441.10. HDFC jumped 2.69 per cent to Rs 2344.85.Only 10 of the 30 scrips that are part of the benchmark Sensex closed in the red. Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 1.40 per cent to Rs 1230.25. The index heavyweight Reliance Industries Limited closed 0.54 per cent down at Rs 2371. Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid Corporation and Maruti Suzuki were among the major Sensex losers.