Sensex ends 177 points higher, Nifty at 10,607

Indian equity market benchmarks BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 settled with half a per cent gains on Friday led by buying in IT and auto stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex hovered around 35,900 levels, having risen to as high as 36,110 earlier in the day. The Nifty50 index slipped below the 10,600 level. Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto (both up 2%) were the top Sensex gainers. Reliance Industries gained 1 per cent after the company announced that Intel has invested Rs 1,894.5 crore in Reliance Jio for a 0.39 per cent stake.

The Nifty and Sensex have rebounded sharply from a coronavirus-fuelled slump in March, but remain around 13% lower for the year.