Markets bounce back; Sensex climbs 218 points

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty bounced back on Friday after three days of fall, led by heavy buying in bank stocks and firm global market trends.

Recovering from its early lows, the BSE Sensex climbed 218.14 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 81,224.75.

During the day, it jumped 384.54 points or 0.47 per cent to 81,391.15.

The NSE Nifty ended 104.20 points or 0.42 per cent higher at 24,854.05.

Also, buying by domestic institutional investors supported market recovery.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Axis Bank jumped nearly 6 per cent after the company's consolidated net profit for the September quarter rose by 19.29 per cent to Rs 7,401.26 crore.

ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, NTPC, JSW Steel, State Bank of India and Adani Ports were the other big gainers.

Among the blue-chip pack, Infosys tanked over 4 per cent after its second quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.

India's second-largest IT services exporter on Thursday reported a near 5 per cent rise in its second quarter net profit and raised revenue guidance for the year on broad-based recovery in demand particularly from its key financial industry clients.

Asian Paints, Nestle, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Hindustan Unilever and ITC were the other big laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 7,421.40 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. DIIs, however, bought equities worth Rs 4,979.83 crore.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled sharply higher while Seoul ended lower.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.07 per cent to $74.40 a barrel.