IND: BSE 30-share Sensex rose 417 points at 9,382 and the NSE Nifty climbed 118 points at 2,832.
Markets started off with a positive gap after the government announced fresh round of monetary and fiscal steps to boost growth. In addition, the Centre also cut prices of petrol and diesel on Friday in the previous week. The fact that the US stocks rallied on Friday despite grim jobs data and firm trend across Asian markets also boosted the sentiments on Dalal-Sreet.
All the 30-components of the Sensex were in the green with index pivotal like Reliance Industries, L&T, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were among the major gainers.
At 10:00 am (IST), the BSE 30-share Sensex rose 417 points at 9,382 and the NSE Nifty climbed 118 points at 2,832.
US stocks erased losses and shot higher on Friday as insurer Hartford Financial Services led a rally in the financial space by hiking its earning forecast for the year. Hartford's reassurances helped pull focus from the 553,000 drop in payrolls last month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 260 points, or 3.1%, to end at 8,637.09, leaving the blue-chip index down 2.2% for the week. The S&P 500 rose 30.85 points, or 3.65%, to 876.07, off 2.3% on the week. The Nasdaq Composite index climbed 63.75 points, or 4.4%, to 1,509.31, down 1.7% for the week.
Lending rates showed little improvement. The 3-month Libor rate held steady at 2.19%, unchanged from Thursday. The overnight Libor fell to 0.28% from 0.52% Thursday. Libor is a key bank lending rate.
The dollar gained versus the euro and the yen. COMEX gold for February delivery lost $13.30 to settle at $752.20 an ounce.
US light crude oil for January delivery fell $2.86 to settle at $40.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, ending at a four-year low. OPEC chief says that the cartel will cut production at its Dec. 17 meeting in response to plummeting oil prices.
European shares extended losses on Friday. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index fell 3.8% to 189.84, falling for the third time in five sessions and bringing losses this week to nearly 8%. Overall, the Stoxx 600 index has fallen by around 49% in the last twelve months.
The UK's FTSE 100 closed down 2.7% to 4,049.37, while Germany's DAX 30 lost 4% to 4,381.47 and the French CAC-40 index declined 5.5% to 2,988.01.
