Indian stocks capped a seventh straight week of gains as investors look beyond the benchmark indexes that keep setting record highs.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 70.35 points or 0.15% higher at 46,960.69, while the NSE Nifty rose 19.85 points or 0.14% to 13,760.55. 
Both gauges rose about 2% this week, with the Sensex marking its longest weekly winning streak since April 2019.
A rally that has rewarded cyclical stocks that are closely tied to economic growth is now about as broad as it can get. Almost all of India’s 200 biggest companies are trading above their 200-day moving average for the first time since 2009.
While concerns about historically high valuations may be tempering the pace of gains, there are still pockets of the market that can outperform, mirroring the value rotation that is delivering returns globally, according to a note from analysts at Jefferies India Ltd led by Mahesh Nandurkar.
“Economic revival, vaccine news-flow and stable or weak US dollar will likely drive the value theme to perform well,” Nandurkar wrote in a note, highlighting state-owned enterprises on the S&P BSE PSU index as “deep value.”
Ten out of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd declined, with a gauge of telecom stocks falling the most. Eighteen Sensex shares rose, while 12 fell. Infosys Ltd contributed most to the index advance and its 2.6% jump was the steepest, while HDFC Bank Ltd was the biggest drag on the index and dropped 2.1%.
Meanwhile  the rupee appreciated by 3 paise to close at 73.56 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday amid sustained foreign fund inflows and positive domestic equities. Traders said weakness in the American currency in the overseas market supported the domestic unit. 
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 73.55 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.49 and a low of 73.57. 
It finally ended at 73.56 against the American currency, registering a rise of 3 paise over its previous close. On Thursday, the rupee settled flat at 73.59 against US dollar. 
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading up 0.20% at 90.00. 
“Value erosion in dollar, excessive liquidity is driving foreign investors to bet big on Indian equities, which give the rupee a slight appreciating bias in the near term,” said Sugandha Sachdeva VP-Metals, Energy & Currency Research, Religare Broking. 
Sachdeva further noted that “73.20-73 remains a strong hurdle for the rupee, and with the Reserve Bank standing in the way, bouts of large-scale appreciation can be ruled out. We reckon that the RBI will prefer to keep the rupee exchange rate stable between the 73 to 74.50 band for quite some time now”. 
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs2,355.25 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.21% to $51.39 per barrel.