Mumbai, July 10 (IANS) Domestic equity benchmarks ended about 1 per cent higher each on Friday, extending their gains on the back of strong buying in information technology (IT), financial stocks, and realty stocks.

Nifty settled at 24,206.90, up 244.10 points or 1.02 per cent. Similarly, Sensex climbed 827.57 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 77,569.39.

The rally was led by IT and realty stocks, with the Nifty IT index rising around 2 per cent to emerge as the top-performing sector. Financial stocks also witnessed broad-based buying, lending further support to the market rally.

Nifty Realty index jumped over 3 per cent, followed by Nifty PSU Bank, which surged 3 per cent.

Nifty Chemicals, Nifty Metal, Nifty Cement and Nifty Oil & Gas indices advanced up to 1.66 per cent.

Meanwhile, Nifty FMCG was only major sectoral gauge to close marginally lower, slipping 0.08 per cent.

According to market experts, positive business updates from banks and an encouraging outlook for the IT sector, supported by stable earnings estimates, a likely recovery in global technology spending and opportunities arising from artificial intelligence (AI), have boosted investor confidence at the start of the June quarter earnings season.

“If first-quarter earnings continue to beat expectations, concerns over future earnings growth could ease further, supporting the ongoing market uptrend. The rally has also broadened, with sectors such as real estate and metals witnessing strong participation,” the experts said.

The experts further noted that easing crude oil prices and a recovery in global technology stocks have improved sentiment towards Indian equities, helping revive foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows.

International benchmark Brent crude declined more than 1 per cent to $75.41 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 1.27 per cent to $71.16 per barrel.

–IANS

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