At 10:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was jumped 719.38 points or 0.99% to 73,219.68. The Nifty 50 index surged 222.95 points or 1.01% to 22,205.75.

The dollar index came under pressure on Friday morning in Asia but continued to hold firmly above 104 mark, limiting upside for peer currencies. The greenback receded from previous day gains after Fed officials reiterated that there is no urgency to cut rates and will wait for the additional evidence of inflation data before considering lowering the interest rate. This is keeping the dollar index hanging above 104 mark. Data from US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) yesterday showed that annual inflation in January was the lowest in three years, increasing possibility of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The dollar index that measures the greenback against a basket of currencies was trading at 104.05, down marginally on the day. Among basket currencies, EURUSD and GBPUSD are trading slightly higher at $1.0821 and $1.2630 respectively.

Growth in bank credit to industry decelerated to 7.8 per cent year-on-year in January compared to 8.7 per cent in the same month last year, according to Reserve Bank data released on Thursday. The RBI’s data on ‘Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit January 2024’ also showed that credit growth to agriculture and allied activities improved to 20.1 per cent (year-on-year) in January 2024 from 14.4 per cent a year ago. Among major industries, growth in credit to ‘food processing’ and ‘textiles’ accelerated in January 2024 against the corresponding month of the previous year, while that of ‘basic metal & metal products’ and ‘chemicals and chemical products’ decelerated.

Oil and Gas stocks were trading in green, with the S&P BSE Oil&Gas index increasing 628.9 points or 2.27% at 28293.54 at 09:46 IST.