Sensex gains 308 points as IT and pharma lift Indian shares; Kospi ends down 3.6%

Indian shares closed higher on Friday, shrugging off a sell-off across much of Asia. The Sensex ended 308.49 points (0.42%) up at 74,459.53 and the Nifty 50 rose 116.35 points (0.51%) to 23,053.10, closing above 23,000, according to ANI and the Free Press Journal.

During the day the Sensex moved between 74,082.03 and 74,742.59. The gains came on top of Thursday's strong session, when the Sensex rose 905 points.

What moved

IT and pharma stocks led. The Nifty IT index rose 2.16% and Nifty Pharma 1.67%, ANI reported. Trent, IndiGo, Infosys, Sun Pharma and HCL Technologies were among the top Nifty gainers. Trent had reported a 25% rise in September-quarter consolidated net profit to Rs 468 crore.

Media, PSU bank, realty, auto, metal and FMCG stocks fell. Shriram Finance, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adani Enterprises, Nestle India and State Bank of India were among the losers. The Bank Nifty slipped 223 points to 54,687 and the midcap index lost 540 points, the Free Press Journal reported, as broader-market participation stayed weak. Suzlon Energy fell nearly 8% after cutting its guidance.

Over the week, the Nifty gained nearly 2%.

Asia and the Binance hack

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi fell 3.61% to 5,730, after dropping about 5% in early trade and triggering a "sidecar" curb on programme selling. Japan's Nikkei lost 2.52%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.47%. The weakness followed a sell-off in US technology shares after disappointing results from Alphabet, Amazon and Intel, and the suspected $6.3 billion hack at crypto exchange Binance.

Rupee, oil and gold

The rupee traded around 95.07 to the dollar in the afternoon, against Thursday's close of 95.26. Brent crude stayed high as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted; market analysts quoted by ANI put it between about $113 and $116 a barrel. Gold fell 0.58% to Rs 1,41,768 per 10 grams on the commodity exchange and silver dropped 2.35%.

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth about Rs 944 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. Friday's figures are due later.