Falling oil prices push up markets

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex rallied 336 points to reclaim the 39,000-level on Friday, capping off a volatile week where investors grappled with flaring oil prices and sudden sell-offs at higher levels.

Trading received a boost on Friday after global oil prices slipped below the $75 per barrel mark and blue-chips posted encouraging results.

A strengthening rupee and unabated foreign fund inflows also bolstered sentiment, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which opened on a firm footing, was propelled by a burst of buying in late-afternoon trade.

It finally closed at 39,067.33, up 336.47 points, or 0.87 per cent. On similar lines, the NSE Nifty climbed 112.85 points, or 0.97 per cent, to 11,754.65.

It was a highly volatile week for the benchmarks, with the Sensex logging a gain/loss of more than 300 points for four out of five sessions.

Sectorally, BSE metal, bankex, oil and gas, IT, energy and teck indices ended in the green, rising up to 1.92 per cent.

BSE auto, consumer durables and telecom finished with losses of up to 1.06 per cent. Meanwhile, broader indices underperformed the benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap shedding up to 0.44 per cent.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 1.28 per cent to $73.41 per barrel. The rupee rebounded 25 paise to 70 against the US dollar intra-day.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equity worth Rs 3,785.73 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 4,069.98 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.