Sensex soars past 17,600 points; registers 5th weekly gain

Mumbai - Main indices of Indian equities markets rallied for the fifth straight week, with benchmark Sensex rising above 17,600 points on the back of continued buying support from overseas investors.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which opened in the positive at 17,444.25 points, closed at 17,604.96 points, up 0.99 percent or 173.11 points from its previous close at 17,431.85 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,630.53 points and low of 17,382.70 points in the intra-day.

This is the fifth weekly rally in the market. The benchmark Sensex gained 2.15 percent this week.

At the National Stock Exchange, the 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty also rallied for the fifth straight week. The Nifty closed 1.06 percent or 55.95 points higher at 5,325.85 points.

Foreign institutional investors bought net equities worth $434.55 million Friday, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data.

The country's largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel rallied for the second day after the Supreme Court Thursday ordered the cancellation of all the 122 licences for 2G spectrum allocated in 2008 during the tenure of then telecom minister A. Raja, who is in jail and faces trial in what has been alleged as India's biggest scam.

Bharti Airtel seem to be the biggest gainer of the move as major portion of the subscribers of the affected companies are expected to shift to it.

Bharti Airtlel closed 0.69 percent higher at Rs.388.60, after surging by 6.88 percent in the previous session.

Other prominent Sensex gainers were: NTPC, up 2.71 percent at Rs.176.30; Hindustan Unilever, up 2.69 percent at Rs.400.70; Sun Pharma, up 2.38 percent at Rs.556.25; DLF, up 1.97 percent at Rs.230.30 and BHEL, up 1.93 percent at Rs.263.80.

Major Sensex losers were: Hindalco Inds, down 3.08 percent at Rs.152.65; Jindal Steel, down 2.66 percent at Rs.555.90; Tata Steel, down 1.56 percent at Rs.467.25 and Sterlite Inds, down 0.97 percent at Rs.122.75.