Indian equity markets extended their gains on Friday, with the benchmark indices witnessing strong buying across major sectors. The Sensex gained 880 points, or 1.23 percent, to trade at 72,473, while the Nifty 50 advanced 293 points, or 1.32 percent, to 22,525 around 11:22 am.

Market breadth remained positive, with 2,193 stocks advancing compared with 1,491 stocks declining, indicating that the buying interest was not limited to a small group of large cap stocks.

The IT sector emerged as the strongest performer, with the sectoral index gaining 3.09 percent. TCS led the gains among Nifty constituents, rising more than 5 percent and emerging as one of the key drivers of the benchmark rally.

Auto stocks also witnessed strong buying, with the sector gaining 1.66 percent. The FMCG sector advanced 1.45 percent, while PSU banks, private banks and the Bank Nifty also gained more than 1 percent.

Broader market indices participated in the rally, with the midcap segment rising 1.23 percent and smallcaps gaining 0.50 percent. The decline in India VIX by 4.38 percent further reflected easing near term market volatility and improving investor sentiment.

The broad based gains across sectors and market capitalisation segments indicated a stronger risk appetite among investors during the session, with IT, automobiles, banking and FMCG stocks providing support to the overall market.