 "Stock broker looking at screen outside the Bombay Stock Exchange")
After rallying for most part of the week, markets are likely to consolidate in trade in Friday, albeit with a positive bias.
On Thursday, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 259 points, while the Nifty50 closed 84 points higher at 8,288 – the highest closing level since October 23, 2015. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended up 1%-1.3% each. Market breadth ended strong with 1608 gainers and 1003 losers.
"Nifty has completely pared its post Brexit losses but existence of hurdle around 8350 would be hard to cross and we might see some consolidation first. So, we suggest to book partial profit in index and shift focus to quality stocks in Midcap and Smallcap space alongside with select index majors for fresh long trades," said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities in an emailed note.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian stocks rose on Friday as global riskier assets continued to recover from last week's Brexit shock, while the pound came under renewed pressure after the Bank of England's governor hinted of an interest rate cut ahead.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%. The index has recovered nearly all the losses suffered last Friday when it plunged in response to Britain's decision to leave the European Union.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8% after the yen gave back more territory seen during flight-to-quality moves earlier in the week. South Korea's Kospi added 0.3%.
The Dow climbed 1.3% on Thursday, posting its third straight days of gains and erasing a bulk of its losses after Brexit.
Some of the overnight gains on Wall Street were attributed to hopes for more monetary easing after Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney said on Thursday the central bank would probably need to pump more stimulus into Britain's economy over the summer in wake of the Brexit shock.
OIL PRICES CLIMB
Oil prices rose early on Friday, with Brent jumping back above $50 per barrel, as investors positioned themselves for more price increases this year in expectation of a tighter market.
International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $50.04 per barrel at 0026 GMT, up 33 cents from their last settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 28 cents at $48.61 a barrel.
Traders said the higher prices were a result of a tightening physical market, in which large oversupply that led to the 2014-2016 price slump was now being brought back into balance.
A further easing of monetary policy expected on the back of Asia's slowing economies and because of Britain's vote to leave the European Union was also seen as a reason for financial traders to put money into commodities, which saw one of the strongest quarterly performances in years in the second quarter of 2016.
With Reuters inputs
