Indian stocks rallied and rallied more than 1% in a volatile (monthly expiry) week to May 26 on strong earnings, a buying spree by domestic and foreign institutions and hopes of a normal monsoon and better economic growth data.

The BSE Sensex gained 772.01 points or 1.25% to end at 62,501.69 and the Nifty50 gained 295.9 points or 1.62% to end at 18,499.30. So far this month, the Sensex and Nifty have gained 1% and 0.77%, respectively.

For the week, the BSE midcap, smallcap and largecap indices rose 2.5%, 1.4% and nearly 2% respectively.

All sectoral indexes closed in the green. The Nifty Metal index was up 5.6%, Pharmaceuticals 4%, Media 3.8%, Healthcare 3.8% and Information Technology 3.7%.

The BSE smallcap index rose 1.4%, supported by Optiemus Infracom, Nucleus Software Exports, Schneider Electric Infrastructure, Indiabulls Real Estate, Hindware Home Innovation, Dixon Technologies, Onward Technologies and Shreyas Shipping.

However, the losers were GE T&D India, Lincoln Pharmaceuticals, Orient Bell, Ashapura Minechem, Arihant Superstructures, Polyplex Corporation, JK Lakshmi Cement, Dishman Carbogen Amcis and GRM Overseas.

Investors’ buying spree saw foreign institutional investors (FIIs) scoop up shares worth Rs 3,230.49 crore, while their domestic counterparts (DIIs) pumped Rs 3,482.21 crore into the market this week. So far this month, FIIs have bought shares worth Rs 20,606.80 crore and DIIs have sold shares worth Rs 1,192.47 crore.