Sensex rises 123 points to close above 62,000-mark on gains in banking, auto shares

Benchmark BSE Sensex recovered from early lows to close at a five-month high on Friday, riding on gains in banking and auto stocks ahead of the release of key inflation data.

The 30-share index gained 123.38 points or 0.20% to settle at 62,027.90, the highest closing level since December 12, 2022.

The barometer opened lower due to early weakness in energy, power and IT stocks and touched a low of 61,578.15 in the day trade. Later, it rebounded on buying in financial and auto shares to hit a high of 62,110.93 points.

The broader NSE Nifty edged up 17.80 points or 0.1% to close at 18,314.80 points.

Among Sensex scrips, Mahindra and Mahindra rose the most by 1.92%. IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HUL, Bajaj Finance and HCL Tech were among the other gainers.

PowerGrid fell the most by 2.67%, followed by NTPC (2.34%) and Tata Steel (1.43%). Ultratech Cement, Nestle, Sun Pharma, Infosys, L&T, Kotak Bank, TCS and Wipro also declined.

Most Asian markets closed lower on looming worries over US banks and lagging demand from China. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.5%, Shanghai Composite by 1% and South Korea's Kospi by 0.7%. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.9%.

The US market ended mostly in the negative territory on Thursday.

The domestic inflation data for the month of April and industrial production for March is scheduled to be announced later in the day.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.45% to USD 74.59 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Thursday as they bought equities worth Rs 837.21 crore, according to exchange data.