Nifty clocks 7th straight weekly gain, jumps 3% in 5 days

ALSO READ See Key Market Stats - Top Gainers/ Losers, Most Actives, Highs/Lows See how Global Markets are trading Indian ADRs

The Indian market has closed in green for seventh consecutive week making it one of the best market rally in recent times. FIIs have invested close to USD 4.5 billion in 2012 despite any major change in fundamentals. Beaten down stocks of 2011 have now become multi-baggers for investors.

World stocks rose near a six-month peak on Friday and the dollar hit a 3-1/2 month high against the yen. This is because of the hopes building up for a long-awaited Greek bailout deal next week following strong US data encouraging investors to buy riskier assets.

Technical indicators show the benchmark index could be ripe for a correction as it is deep in "overbought" territory, with its 14-day relative strength index at 77 on Friday. A score of 70 and above is considered overbought.

The government earlier this month cut its economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 6.9 percent, the slowest pace in three years. The GDP data for the October-December quarter is due on February 29.

The Sensex ended at 18289.35 up 135.36 points or 0.75% and the Nifty closed at 5568.35 up 46.40 points or 0.84%. About 1387 shares advanced, 1577 shares declined, and 436 shares remain unchanged.

Top gainers on the Nifty: BHEL, Axis Bank, Tata Power, HCL Tech and Mah and Mah surged 3-6%.

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Top losers on the Nifty: Hero Motocorp, Sesa Goa, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Infra and Hindalco lost 2-4%.

The most active shares on BSE were SBI, BHEL, Reliance, L&T and Reliance Power. Tech major Infosys closed at Rs 2,950.60 up 1.63% from its previous close of Rs 2,903.35. Cigarette major ITC ended at Rs 205.30 up 0.71% from its previous close of Rs 203.85.

Nifty Feb futures added over 7 lakh shares in open interest. The futures ended with 32 points premium. India VIX closed at 24.18, up 3.6%. Nifty OI PCR now stands at 1.69. Cues from the options data suggest that Nifty may expire in the range of 5300-5600.

Top percentage gainers on the NSE - Panasonic Home, Rohit Ferro Tech, MTNL, Lanco Infratech and House of Pearl were up 11-20%

Top percentage losers on the NSE - Petron Eng Cons, Tips Industries, Energy Dev, Hira Ferro and Surana Ind were down 9-11%.

Gold prices rose on Friday as optimism that Greece may soon secure an urgently needed bailout buoyed financial markets and helped bullion recover from a one-week low hit in the previous session.

Brent crude traded little changed above $120 on Friday, supported by supply concerns as European buyers sought alternatives to sanctions-hit Iranian oil and the prospect of a revival in demand as Greece edged closer to a bailout deal.