Markets remain upbeat amid earning season

Mumbai: Equity markets closed in the green for the second straight day on Friday as investors looked beyond geopolitical turbulence and wagered on a positive start to the earnings season.

After rallying 323 points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex pared some gains to end 147.37 points, or 0.36 per cent, higher at 41,599.72.

The broader Nifty scaled a fresh intra-day record of 12,311.20, before ending 40.90 points, or 0.33 per cent, up at 12,256.80.

During the week, the Sensex advanced 135.11 points or 0.32 per cent, while the Nifty rose 30.15 points or 0.24 per cent.

With US-Iran tensions cooling off, focus has now shifted to quarterly earnings and the Union Budget, traders said.

Investors are expecting measures from the government to revive the economy which has led to broad-based participation in equities, they added.

"The market is witnessing rotation from high quality financial and consumer stocks to a high beta industrial and infrastructure stocks.

Further, high beta mid-caps and small caps have fared very well since beginning of 2020," said Hemang Kapasi, Portfolio Manager - Equity Investment Products, Sanctum Wealth Management.

BSE realty, metal, FMCG, auto, capital goods and IT indices rose up to 1.86 per cent, while consumer durables and telecom finished lower.

The broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended up to 0.42 per cent higher.