Friday’s session brought some respite, as IT stocks spearheaded a recovery. The Sensex rose 331 points to close at 77,265, while the Nifty gained 85 points to settle at 24,176. The Nifty Bank slipped 14 points to 57,496, but the Nifty Midcap index added 34 points to 64,070. Market breadth was balanced, with the advance-decline ratio near parity. IT was the clear outperformer, with the sectoral index climbing over 3%. All five top Nifty gainers — TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, and Wipro — came from the IT pack, highlighting the sector’s leadership role.
