Indian benchmark indices advanced sharply on Friday, supported by strong buying interest in IT and banking stocks. Positive sentiment was further boosted by gains in Reliance Industries, as investors positioned themselves ahead of the company's Q1 earnings announcement.

At 14:30 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 78044.47 up by 857.6 points or by 1.11 % and then NSE Nifty was at 24297.45 up by 224.7 points or by 0.93 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 78282.55 and intraday low of 77308 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 24367.3 and intraday low of 24099.05

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1579.80,+4.53%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 2273.00,+3.23%), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (Rs. 387.80,+2.82%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1323.90,+2.39%), Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs. 2142.45,+2.09%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1935.45,-0.75%), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 1907.70,-0.74%), Trent Ltd. (Rs. 2841.40,-0.63%), UltraTech Cement Ltd. (Rs. 11715.00,-0.55%), InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. (Rs. 5245.00,-0.42%), among others.

IT index was at 28265.59 up by 424.68 points or by 1.53%. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1579.80,+4.53%), 63 Moons Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 720.00,+4.01%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 2273.00,+3.23%), BLS E-Services Ltd. (Rs. 276.75,+3.09%), Persistent Systems Ltd. (Rs. 5185.00,+2.47%),.

CGS index was at 77986.51 down by -1199.64 points or by -1.51%. Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd. (Rs. 2248.25,-6.12%), GE Vernova T&D India Ltd. (Rs. 4356.45,-5.00%), Hitachi Energy India Ltd. (Rs. 32102.40,-4.21%), Polycab India Ltd. (Rs. 8868.10,-3.78%), KEI Industries Ltd. (Rs. 4893.60,-3.54%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 4522 , shares advanced were 1663 while 2634 shares declined and 225 were unchanged.