The broader markets were outperformers of the day as the Nifty Midcap index rallied 2 percent or 360 points on positive breadth. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the NSE.

Bulls retained the charge at Dalal Street for the second consecutive session on Friday as the Sensex gained more than 300 points intraday. The rally was driven by banking & financials, auto, metals, oil and pharma stocks.

The sharp fall in crude oil prices and upside in rupee against the US dollar boosted investors sentiment. Positive European cues also aided the rally.

The 30-share Sensex was up 261.76 points or 0.76 percent at 34,924.87 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 91.30 points or 0.87 percent at 10,605.20.

After the rally in last two sessions, experts expect volatility in the coming week ahead of the expiry of May derivative contracts. Investors will continue watching the movement in rupee and crude oil prices, they said.

"Market participants have been confused by contradictory cues in the last couple of months. While boiling crude oil prices & the rupee dollar equation are headwinds for the Indian economy, the demand scenario for automobiles, robust trends in the consumption growth from both rural & urban side are tailwinds," Devang Mehta, Head – Equity Advisory, Centrum Wealth Management said.

The earnings season has been in line with the expectations and management commentary has been positive in at least the consumption related sectors, he added.

He feels that FY19 will clearly be a year of picking & holding high quality businesses exhibiting robust growth prospects & earnings profile.

Hemang Jani, Head - Advisory, Sharekhan said the research house remained bullish on the Indian markets and sees buying opportunity in selective stocks in the consumption, private banking and auto space.

The broader markets were outperformers of the day as the Nifty Midcap index rallied 2 percent or 360 points on positive breadth. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the NSE.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil futures traded below $77 a barrel at the time of writing this article, down 2.5 percent from the previous close. It fell more than 4 percent from its 3-1/2-year high of $80.50 a barrel.

Asian markets closed slightly lower after US President Donald Trump cancelled a scheduled summit with Kim Jong Un. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell half a percent and China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.4 percent.

European stocks were higher after North Korea's response to Trump's decision to cancel a summit appeased investors' fears.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee continued its recovery for the second consecutive session after hitting an 18-month low of 68.42 against the US dollar on Wednesday. It ended at 67.78 a dollar, up 56 paise from the previous close.

On the stock front

All sectoral indices closed in the green barring IT index that fell 0.10 percent on recovery in rupee. TCS closed down half a percent after hitting a record high of Rs 3,674 intraday that helped it become the first company to hit a market cap of Rs 7 lakh crore during the day. It closed with a market cap of Rs 6.87 lakh crore.

Infosys also closed off day's high, up to half a percent while Tech Mahindra lost over a percent ahead of March quarter earnings announced after market hours.

Tech Mahindra's earnings surpassed Street estimates, with profit rising 29.6 percent sequentially while Sun Pharma's Q4 earnings also beat analyst expectations on all parameters, with profit rising 7 percent compared to year-ago. The pharma stock gained 0.8 percent.

ONGC was one of the biggest gainers among Nifty50 stocks, rising 4.6 percent after over 4 percent fall seen in the previous session on fears of the windfall tax.

Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, Metal, Pharma and Realty indices gained 1-2 percent.

IOC, Bajaj Finserv, Indiabulls Housing Finance, HPCL, Tata Steel and Hindalco were top gainers, rising 4-5 percent. HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, Eicher Motors, Tata Motors, Maruti, Kotak Mahindra Bank, M&M and Bajaj Finance were up 1-3 percent.

ITC, ICICI Bank, Bharti Infratel, SBI and Coal India were major gainers among Nifty50 stocks, falling up to 1.6 percent.

Cadila Healthcare (up 7 percent), Page Industries (up 6 percent), Shreyas Shipping (5 percent), Karur Vysya Bank (4 percent) and Gujarat Sidhee Cement (20 percent) reported good Q4 show while Zuari Agro was down 5 percent and IDBI Bank lost 3 percent post loss in Q4.

IFCI shares jumped 12 percent on getting Rs 280.3 crore from Bhushan Steel resolution while MCX climbed 14 percent on reports of a merger with NSE.

Gateway Distriparks was locked at 20 percent upper circuit after the firm decided to acquire global private equity major Blackstone's entire shareholding in its freight company Gateway Rail Freight for Rs 810 crore.

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