Bank Nifty posts biggest weekly gain in 10 years

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: In absolute terms, Bank Nifty posts biggest weekly gains in 10 years. The Sensex was up 39.49 points at 24646.48, and the Nifty was up 9.75 points at 7485.35. About 1516 shares have advanced, 1087 shares declined, and 145 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, SBI, Coal India, Tata Motors and Cipla were top gainers while Sun Pharma, Wipro, Maruti, L&T and Reliance were losers in the Sensex

3:10 pm View on oil: Oil prices are likely to recover after 11-year low to USD 55 per barrel from the current USD 34 in 12 months, following gains in the latter half of 2016, according to a report.

However, weakness in the price of crude oil is likely to continue in the short-term, with the market yet to see the end of the downside momentum, according to a research report by UBS Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office (CIO).

The oil market is still oversupplied in the first half of 2016 after supply expanded 2.7 percent in 2015. Prevailing market surpluses require accelerated supply curbs to rebalance the oil markets.

2:50 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks erased gains amid volatility. The Sensex fell 30.56 points to 24576.43 and the Nifty declined 15.35 points to 7460.25.About 1454 shares advanced against 1055 declining shares on the BSE.2:25 pm Sugar exports: Indian sugar mills signed export deals this week, the first in nearly two months, as an incentive by the top producing state Maharashtra and a rally in global prices of the sweetener made overseas sales attractive, industry sources told Reuters.

A pick up in exports by the world's second-biggest producer could put a lid on world sugar prices, which climbed to more than one-month highs on Thursday amid worries about lower shipments from top supplier Brazil.

Indian sugar export deals, absent earlier this year due to uncompetitive local prices, are trickling in now following a decision by Maharashtra to "exempt cane purchase tax for mills exporting their quota", said Sanjeev Babar, managing director of Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation.2:00 pm Market Check

The market gained strength again amid volatility in afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 74.34 points to 24681.33 and the Nifty advanced 22.30 points to 7497.90.

The broader markets maintained outperformance with the Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1.2 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. About 1475 shares advanced against 975 declining shares on the BSE.Nifty Bank recovered more than 300 points from day's low as all banks stocks were in green. SBI (up over 3 percent) and HDFC Bank (up over 1 percent) rebounded. ICICI Bank extended upside, rising 2.5 percent.Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and Coal India rallied 2 percent each. BHEL jumped nearly 4 percent on commissioning of 700 MW thermal plant in Karnataka.ITC, Sun Pharma, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, Bharti Airtel and NTPC fell 0.7-1.4 percent.