Equity markets registered significant gains on Friday as the 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 1,016.96 points to close at 57,426.92, while the broader 50-share NSE Nifty gained 276.25 points to finish at 17,094.35.

Sensex rose by 1.8% and Nifty 1.64% as the markets snapped a seven-day losing streak. Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the stocks that gained the most.

“The rebound was overdue but the key is to hold the gains amid the feeble global cues,” Ajit Mishra, the vice president (research) of Religare Broking said, reported the Economic Times. “We feel the recovery would strengthen above 17,200 in Nifty while 16,800 would continue to act as critical support.”

Meanwhile, the rupee rose by 37 paise to close at 81.36 against the US dollar, PTI reported. The Indian currency opened at 81.60 against the dollar. It registered an intra-day high of 81.17 and an intra-day low of 81.69 during the trading session on Friday.

On Wednesday, the rupee had plunged to a record low of 81.90 at closing, and had fallen to 81.98 during intra-day trading.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday increased the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.9% to fight inflation. The repo rate is the interest rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks.

This was the fourth hike in the repo rate since May. The central bank had raised the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.4% on August 5.