Indian benchmarks closed higher on Friday while major Asian markets and global technology stocks fell. That split is the part worth noticing: the Sensex reclaimed the 80,000 mark on a day when the pressure elsewhere pointed the other way.
It was the seventh straight session of gains. News agency ANI, in a report carried by Calcutta News, said the Sensex ended at 81,028.02, up 1,718.01 points or 2.17% from the previous close of 79,310.01, while the Nifty finished at 25,030.35, up 493.75 points or 2.01% from 24,536.60.
Key numbers
- 81,028.02 Sensex close on Friday, up 1,718.01 points or 2.17% from 79,310.01
- 25,030.35 Nifty close on Friday, up 493.75 points or 2.01% from 24,536.60
- ₹14,975 crore net buying by foreign funds in a single session, as reported by The Economic Times
- ₹29 lakh crore added to investor wealth across the run of more than 8%, as reported by Udaipur Kiran
Banks and financials led the session
Financial services and banking indices each advanced over 2%, the strongest sectors of the day, followed by consumer durables and pharma, ANI reported. The broader market was mixed, with the Nifty 100 up over 1%.
On the BSE, the gainers included M&M, ICICI Bank, Titan, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, NTPC, Bharti Airtel and Reliance. PowerGrid was the top loser. On the NSE, TMPV, Eicher Motors and Grasim were among the laggards.
In commodities at the time of that report, Brent crude traded around USD 96.99 a barrel, US crude around USD 89.11, and gold around USD 4,069.36.
Foreign buying is what the reports agree on
The one cause every report names is money coming in from abroad. The Economic Times reported net purchases of ₹14,975 crore by overseas funds and called it the biggest Sensex rally since April. A separate Economic Times report put foreign buying at USD 5 billion over five days.
The run did not start on Friday. Mint reported the Sensex up 2,700 points and the Nifty up 3% across two sessions, adding ₹4 lakh crore, and linked that stretch to the US midterm election results. The Pioneer reported a 2,009-point Sensex jump earlier in the run, with the Nifty at a three-month high.
In plain words: foreign institutional investors are overseas funds that buy and sell shares on a local exchange. When they buy heavily over several days, demand concentrates in a limited pool of large listed companies, and the index that tracks those companies moves with it. Indian reports publish those flows in rupee crore after each session, which is why the same figures appear across outlets.
What the reports do not settle
I went through the day's reports, and none of them breaks down which sessions make up the ₹29 lakh crore that Udaipur Kiran attributes to the rally of more than 8%. Figures of that kind are drawn from the combined market value of all listed companies, not from the 30 or 50 names in the headline indices.
The explanations also differ. The Economic Times frames the inflows around Diwali-week buying; Mint ties part of the move to the US midterm results. Neither link is independently confirmed, and ANI's report noted that the global sell-off in technology shares, driven by concerns over AI-related spending, weighed on Asian markets without pulling Indian IT stocks down with them.