MUMBAI: Equities jumped today as the benchmark BSE Sensex recaptured the 28,000-level by surging 293 points and NSE Nifty breached the 8,600-mark on continued buying by investors ahead of IIP and inflation data.

Brokers said widening of positions by participants ahead of key economic data -- industrial production (IIP) for June and consumer price index (CPI) for July to be released after market closing today- helped boost trading sentiment.

MUMBAI: The rupee fell for the second day in a row against the dollar on Friday closing down by 4 paise at 66.89 due to sustained dollar demand from banks and importers.

Firm equity markets and foreign capital inflows failed to restrict the rupee's fall against the dollar, a forex dealer said.

State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday reported 31.7% decline in profit to Rs 2,520.96 crore as provisions for bad loans continued to eat into profits.

Its gross bad loans rose only 3% over the preceding quarter to Rs 1.02 lakh crore as of end-June, much less than expected. This led to the share price closing 7.16% higher at Rs 243.20.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will convert about 15,000 km of roads from two-lanes to four-lanes for enhancing the economic efficiency of the highways.

"We are looking at economically efficient corridors and have identified around 15,000 km of roads, which we will convert from two-lanes to four-lanes, to increase their economic efficiencies by connecting points that have been left out historically," NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra said at a road conference organised by Assocham.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) expects around 40 per cent of its existing member base of 1,400 to set up offices at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (Gift City) in Gandhinagar.

The exchange has already started marketing the concept to its members and the first road show in India was organised in Ahmedabad.

YES Bank, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, LIC Housing Finance and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation are among 30 stocks from the BSE500 and Nifty500 indices, which hit their 52-week highs on Friday.

YES Bank ended 3% higher at Rs 1,291 on the BSE on reports that the stock's weightage on the MSCI Global Standard Indexes was raised to 1.7% from 0.46% earlier. The increase could translate into additional buying of $224 million.

Investment made by bank employees through bank's own portfolio management scheme (PMS) would be considered as violation of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) insider trading norms, the regulator said in an informal guidance note to HDFC bank

Sebi on Friday responded on the clarification sought by HDFC Bank on whether deals under discretionary portfolio management schemes (PMS) by the portfolio manager by the employee of bank is in compliance with the provisions of Prohibition of Insider Trading (Regulation), 2015.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) has said that the company has not cancelled its plans for rights issue to raise around Rs 750 crore, which it announced in May 2015, and is pending for government approval. The company, which is experiencing pressure on profit after tax due to higher investment, would see the profitability margins improving in two to three years, said senior management of the company.

Maruti Suzuki India launched its hatchback Baleno last year and since then the car has performed very well among the masses. In the month of July, 2016, the company recorded a growth of 30.9% in its sales for the Baleno. Within the first few months of its launch, the company has recorded 21,000 bookings of the Maruti Suzuki Baleno, while in 9 months, the sales reached 75,000 units sales mark in the country.

Supreme Court in its latest ruling has lifted the ban on diesel vehicles with engines larger than 2,000 cc in the Delhi NCR region. The concession has been made against the clause of paying a 1% cess, which will be paid to the Delhi Pollution Control Board. The government authority will then utilise this money to find ways to lower pollution in Delhi. The payment will have to be made by the carmaker before the vehicle can be registered and hence the payment will be made on the ex-showroom prices.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.