The benchmark indices had their strongest week of 2024, surging over 2% on Friday as government formation drew nearer.

Sensex opened lower at 75,031.79, and climbed in the afternoon session to touch its all-time high of 76,795.31. Further at close, it was at 76,693.36, up 1,618.85 points, or 2.16%.

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Nifty opened flat at 22,821.85, and climbed to an intraday high of 23,320.20. At close, the index was at 23,290.15, up 468.75 points, or 2.05%.

Despite a steep loss of 6 per cent on June 4, market benchmarks are up with decent gains in June so far.

Among the sectors, Nifty IT surged by 3.5%, with Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and TCS leading the gains.

Nifty Auto, Nifty Energy, Nifty Infra, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Realty closed over 2%.

BSE Midcap index rose 1.28%, while the Smallcap index ended with a gain of 2.18%.

Overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE rose to nearly Rs 423.4 lakh crore from nearly Rs 415.9 lakh crore in the previous session.

Shares of Wipro spiked over 5% in early trade after the company bagged a $500-million deal by a leading US communication service provider, spread over a period of five years.

Further, Paytm zoomed over 9% in morning deals and the sharp rise comes after the circuit filter for the stock has been revised upwards to 10% from 5% earlier.

Morgan Stanley believes that the chemicals sector is still not out of the woods and will remain on the sidelines for some more time until an earnings upgrade cycle makes its way.

Further, the brokerage house Axis Securities picked ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, and Federal Bank as its top banking picks post Q4FY24 results.

On the global landscape, the European shares opened just off record highs. Traders waited for US jobs data due that would cement bets on Federal Reserve policy easing in the coming months.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 index inched 0.1% lower, having hit record peaks this week.

While technology stocks gained, real estate and insurance stocks slipped, given the ECB’s signal that it would not rush to cut rates rapidly.