Indian market settled on a cheerful note on Friday led by banking stocks on expectations of rate cut next week and sharp fall in brent crude. At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex added 255.08 points or 0.90% at 28,693.99. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty went up by 94.05 or 1.11% at 8,588.25.

Commenting on the markets, Jayant Manglik, president-retail distribution, Religare Securities said, ''It was an exceptional end to the trading week as indices jumped by more than a percent and closed to new record high level.
 
Nifty touched the psychological mark of 8,600 and settled around that mark. The markets moved in reaction to RBI’s latest guidelines for payments and small banks as also cheered OPEC’s decision to maintain output despite sliding oil prices. Also, the gains have come well ahead of the release of Q2 GDP data, which highlights an optimistic mood.
 
Next week will be interesting with participants reacting to the GDP numbers in early trades on Monday and that would determine the market direction for the rest of the day as well. Traders are advised to keep positive bias. Our immediate target of 8700 for Nifty is intact and we should see some consolidation at that level.''

The Banking index climbed the most with a gain of 2.87% followed by Auto (1.95%). On the other hand, technology dropped by 0.18%. SBI, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and Tata Motors were major gainers in the Sensex pack. On the other hand SSTL, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and GAIL were top losers in the benchmark index.

Overall market breadth was positive with 1,530 advances against 1,545 declines.

Shares of Just Dial witnessed a jump of 2.02% today after the Reserve Bank of India increased the investment limit for overseas investors.