Indian benchmark indices ended on a strong note on July 17, supported by robust buying in auto, information technology and banking stocks. Optimism ahead of Reliance Industries' June-quarter earnings, coupled with value buying in large-cap stocks, further lifted investor sentiment.


Despite weak global cues, the domestic market opened higher and extended its gains throughout the session, with Nifty touching day's high of 24,367.30. Strong buying in heavyweight stocks, particularly IT counters after Tech Mahindra reported better-than-expected June-quarter earnings, outweighed weakness in media, metal and pharma stocks, helping the benchmarks end firmly in the green.

At close, the Sensex was up 964.58 points or 1.25 percent at 78,151.45, and the Nifty was up 261.55 points or 1.09 percent at 24,334.30.

For the week, BSE Sensex added 0.5% and Nifty rose 0.7%.

The broader market underperformed the benchmarks, with Nifty midcap index falling 0.4 percent and smallcap index losing 0.2 percent.

Biggest Nifty gainers were Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Jio Financial, Reliance Industries, while losers included Hindalco, Dr Reddys Labs, Wipro, Sun Pharma and Max Healthcare.

Among sectors, Nifty Private Bank emerging as the top gainer, rising 2 percent, followed by Nifty Bank, which advanced 1.6 percent. Nifty IT climbed 1.7 percent. Among other gainers, Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty rose 1.3 percent each, while Nifty Oil & Gas gained 1 percent and Nifty FMCG added 0.7 percent.

On the other hand, Nifty Pharma shed 1.4 percent and Metal down 0.4 percent.

Nearly 100 stocks touched their 52-week high on the BSE, including Federal Bank, Sona BLW, Exide Industries, Himadri Speciality, Adani Energy, Ipca Labs, Oracle Fin Services, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Piramal Finance, BHEL, among others.

The Indian rupee snapped four-day losing streak and ended higher by 7 paise at 96.28 against the US dollar, compared with the previous close of 96.35.

Among individual stocks, Wipro slipped 1 percent after the IT major reported a mixed set of June-quarter results, while Tech Mahindra gained 3 percent following a strong operational performance. Jio Financial Services rallied 3 percent after posting robust quarterly earnings.

Servotech Renewable Power System advanced 3 percent after securing an order for a 900 kW solar rooftop project across 12 locations in Uttar Pradesh. In contrast, CEAT tumbled 7 percent after reporting a sharp decline in June-quarter profit despite healthy revenue growth.

Piramal Finance declined 2.8 percent despite delivering a strong June-quarter performance, while PC Jeweller fell 6 percent after its board approved raising up to ?1,000 crore through a Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP).