State-owned NHPC, a hydroelectric power generating company, revealed in a statement, that it would come out with its initial public offer, only after the market conditions improve.

Mr. SK Garg, Chairman and Managing Director of the company said, "IPO is on hold till market conditions stabilize."

Last year in October, the company has planned initial public offer (IPO) of 167 crore equity shares, which latter the company called off due to volatile market conditions.

The company has plans to raise funds for its future expansions and part finance the construction and development costs of certain of identified projects.

After starting the day positively, the 30-share index BSE Sensex ended the week on a strong note following a surge in worldwide markets.

The continued buying support in realty, banking, metal and IT stocks assisted the market to gain throughout the day, and closed on a strong note.

Second line stocks also performed well. BSE Midcap and Smallcap index gained 2.96% and 1.97% respectively.

Amongst the sectors, BSE Realty was the major gainer, which gained 7.57% followed by Metal zoomed 6.26%, Bankex surged 5.85% and IT moved up 5.63%.

New Delhi - India's benchmark Sensex index rose by 4 per cent during trade Friday, mirroring strong gains on the US and Asian bourses.

The 30-share sensitive Sensex index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which rose 2.25 per cent on Thursday, moved up further by 3.95 per cent to 8,671.36 points by 1:25 pm (0755 GMT).

All the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE were in positive terrain with the indices for banking and realty gaining the most.

Indian markets surged during the opening hours due to overnight gains in the US and a strong opening of the Asian equity markets.

Realty and banking stocks were leading the upmove after gaining more than 3% each.

The BSE midcap index was ruling 1.78 per cent higher, while the BSE smallcap index was up 1.04 per cent.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex opened at 8,480.74, up 136.99 points or 1.64 per cent from the previous day's close.

Sydney - Australian stocks soared 3 per cent

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks rose again on Friday, buoyed by another surge on Wall Street on the New York markets.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 316.93 points or 4.4 per cent by 9:46 am, at 7,515.18.

The broader Topix index of all first section issues was also up by 17.61 points or 2.51 per cent, at 718.54.

Wall Street continued its three-day rally with the three major indices up about 4 per cent on Thursday led by General Electric and Bank of America shares.