Mumbai, July 31 -- The headline equity benchmarks ended with moderate gains on Friday, extending their winning streak to a third consecutive session. Strong June-quarter earnings, stock-specific buying and sustained foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows kept investor sentiment upbeat. Gains in media, auto and oil & gas stocks offset weakness in IT, FMCG and consumer durables shares, with the Nifty settling above the 24,350 mark.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 166.49 points or 0.21% to 78,094.64. The Nifty 50 index added 66.45 points or 0.27% to 24,383.60. In three consecutive trading sessions, the Sensex rose 1.73% while the Nifty gained 1.66%.

The broader market outperformed the...