Sensex gains 250 pts, Nifty near 21750; Realty, IT lead

Equity benchmark indices extended gains in Friday’s opening deals, looking past weakness in the global markets. The BSE Sensex rose 300 points to 71,145 and the NSE Nifty50 gained 90 points to 21,748.

NTPC, Wipro, M&M, SBI led gains on Sensex. Bajaj Auto, Hero Moto were top Nifty winners.

On the flip side, Nestle, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Britannia and IndusInd Bank were the few frontline drags.

The broader markets were also firm. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose up to nearly 0.6 per cent.

Realty pocket extended strength as it jumped 2 per cent, leading sectoral gains. Lodha surged 8% on reporting its best ever Q3 pre-sales of Rs 3,410 crore, up 12 per cent year-on-year.