Reacting positively to the budget, Indian stock markets break free to close 237 points higher than its previous weekly close.

To end Friday at 16,429.55 points, 237 points above its previous weekly close at 16,191.63 points, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) moved up 237.92 points or 1.47 percent.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too posted gains to end the week at 4,922.3 points, up 77.4 points or 1.57 percent. Broader market indices, however, ended the week in the red with the BSE midcap index closing 0.54 percent down and the BSE smallcap index 1.67 percent lower.

Jagannadham Thunuguntla, the equity head for brokerage firm SMC Capitals said," Though it is not possible to keep everyone happy, the finance minister has done a commendable job. This was evident from the way markets reacted to the announcements."

He further added," The budget did help in breaking from the side-ways movement, but it is not going to help much going forward. A lot of the budget news has been factored in and one should not expect a major rally."

Hindalco (up 7.7 percent), Maruti Suzuki (up 6.8 percent), L&T (up 6.2 percent), Hero Honda (up 5.5 percent) and ICICI Bank (up 5 percent) were the top gainers while ITC (down 6.5 percent), Reliance Communications (down 2.8 percent), Tata Power (down 2.2 percent), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.2 percent) and Reliance Industries (down 0.6 percent) were the main losers. (With Input From Agencies)