Sensex up 225 points, Nifty nears 5,600

India's benchmark indices traded with over 1% gains Friday on the back of strong global cues. The Sensex traded nearly 225 points higher at 18,378 while the broader Nifty index advanced nearly 70 points at 5,591 at 0940 hours.

Global cues turned positive on the back of more supportive data from the US, where jobless claims declined to a four year low. The Dow Jones index closed at its highest in four years. Barring Chinese indices, most other Asian markets traded with gains. Japan's Nikkei index was up over 1.75%.

Analysts said the upside in the Indian markets is likely to continue. "The trend is clearly on the upside. The markets are clearly factoring interest rates will come down in March or April," Sajiv Dhawan, MD of JV Capital Services said.

Most analysts said investors should trade with caution because stocks have risen too fast, too soon.

“What you might be experiencing right now might just be a bubble run and we don't know how long will it last," Rohit Srivastava, Fund Manager at Sharekhan told NDTV Profit.

Power (3.1%), realty (2.5%), capital goods (3.5%), banking (2.3%), metals (1.8%) led the rally today.  Defensive stocks like healthcare and FMCG and IT stocks underperformed the benchmark indices.

BHEL (8%) was the top gainer on the Nifty index followed by Axis Bank (3.9%), SBI (3.7%), Sterlite (3.6%) and IDFC (3.5%). BPCL (-2.1%), Hero MotoCorp (-1%), Maruti (-0.7%) and Bajaj Auto (-0.5%) were the big Nifty losers today.

The market breadth was extremely strong with over 90% stocks rising on the broader BSE 500 index.

Tags: BHEL, Nifty, Sensex