Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty yesterday ended on a strong note, snapping their six-day losing session. Expectations of a stimulus package ahead of the festive season and a recovery in global markets helped lift the sentiment. 
The broader NSE Nifty 50 index rose 2.3% to 11,050 while the Sensex climbed 835 points to 37,388, lifted by banking and IT stocks. For this week, the Sensex ended about 4% lower. 
“The Indian equity markets recovered quite a bit of lost ground from the previous day. The factors which prevailed against the markets like the sell-off in the tech sector, the emergence of the second wave of the pandemic and probability of geopolitical tensions centring around Chinese stand-off etc... may continue to influence the course of the markets in the coming weeks. 
The expectations of a further fiscal package from the government ahead of the festival season is a factor that may endow the markets with some strength,” said Joseph Thomas, head of research at Emkay Wealth Management.
The Nifty IT sub-index climbed 3.5%, while the Nifty Bank index gained 2.6%. All Sensex components ended in green, with Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, L&T, TCS, ONGC and ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and SBI gaining up to 6.6%.
Despite yesterday’s rally, many investors remain cautious.
“Friday witnessed a smart recovery from the losses of Thursday. Average cash market turnover on NSE was in line with previous week despite being an F&O expiry week as declining markets led to lower participation among investors Traders could come back on the long side, though with some caution. On upmoves it can face resistance in the 11130-11180 band,” said Deepak Jasani, Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “Global cues will continue to be in focus as resurgence in virus cases around the world, leads to more restrictions and more pressure on the economic recovery. 
Traders advised to limit overnight positions and Investors are advised to only accumulate quality stocks for the time being.”
Meanwhile the rupee strengthened by 28 paise to settle at 73.61 (provisional) against the US dollar yesterday, as gains in domestic equities buoyed investor sentiment. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.76 against the US dollar, then gained further ground to finally close at 73.61, registering a rise of 28 paise over its previous close. On Thursday, the rupee dived 32 paise to touch a near one-month low of 73.89 against the US dollar. 
During the session, the local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.56 and a low of 73.77 against the US dollar. 
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01% up at 94.36. 
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs1,885.69 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.31% to $42.07 per barrel.