Mumbai, April 10 -- The headline equity benchmarks ended with strong gains on Friday, tracking positive global cues. Sentiment was buoyed by optimism surrounding a potential US-Iran ceasefire, which improved overall risk appetite.

Despite the upbeat close, investors remained watchful, tracking corporate business updates and positioning ahead of the upcoming quarterly earnings season, which is expected to provide clearer direction on market valuations and growth trends.

The Nifty settles near the 24,050 mark. Barring the Nifty IT index, all other sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green, with auto, realty, and financial services stocks witnessing the most gains.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sen...