Sensex surges 179 pts riding on banks, IT stocks

The Indian equity benchmark indices ended their gaining streak to second consecutive day on Friday,  ending the first week of the year on a positive note led by gains in banks, RIL and IT stocks.At close, the Sensex was up 178.58 points or 0.25 percent at 72,026.15, and the Nifty was up 52.20 points or 0.24 percent at 21,710.80. About 1798 shares advanced, 1494 shares declined, and 62 shares unchanged.

Stocks and Sectors
Adani Ports, L&T, TCS, SBI Life Insurance and LTIMindtree were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Nestle India, Britannia Industries, UPL, Sun Pharma and JSW Steel.On the sectoral front,Information Technology and Capital Goods indices rose 1 percent each, while pharma, and PSU Bank indices down 0.3 percent each. BSE midcap index flat, while smallcap index added 0.6 percent.
On 05 Jan'24,the Indian rupee closed stronger on Friday, supported by dollar inflows even as its Asian peers slipped heading into the release of key U.S. labour market data due later in the day.
The rupee closed at 83.15 against the U.S. dollar, higher by 0.1% compared with its close at 83.23 in the previous session. The local unit was little changed week-on- week.The rupee has made a sturdier start to 2024 compared to its Asian peers, most of which fell on Friday and were down week-on-week, as the dollar gained amid a paring of early rate cut expectations in the United States, stated report.
Experts Take
Market experts have recommended five stocks to buy for Friday-UBL, India Cements, BEL, Adani Enterprises, and Greenpanel Industries.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)