Key Indian stock indices capped a five-day winning streak on Friday, March 15 as investors remain hopeful that the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will win the upper hand in the upcoming parliamentary election. To remind, the election will include seven phases and is scheduled to begin on April 11. Notably, upbeat sentiment has been bolstered by an easing of tension between India and Pakistan. Moreover, the external backdrop was supportive as Asian equities closed in the green, while European markets were also on the rise. Recapping the benchmarks, the Nifty 50 advanced 0.74% to 11,426.85, and the BSE Sensex firmed 0.71% to 38,024.32, overstepping the 38,000 mark for the first time in six months. By 10:34 GMT, the USD/INR currency pair eased 0.33% to 69.123, while EUR/INR traded down 0.16% to 78.2670. The 10-year Indian government bond yield narrowed to 7.503%. Financial names extended gains, outperforming the broader market. In particular, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India surged 4.4%, 1.9% and 2.2%, respectively. The list of top performers included IT stocks, with Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys advancing 2.6% and 1.4%, respectively. On the downside, mobile operator Bharti Airtel, owned by billionaire Sanil Bharti Mittal, shed 1.4% as equity analysts at Jeffries downgraded the stock to Underperform from Hold and cut their target price to INR 270 from INR 280 per share. The daily chart shows that the BSE Sensex continues to trade outside the upper line of Bollinger bands, while the Slow Stochastic Oscillator is still hovering in overbought territory. Consequently, a downturn could be in the offing. $SENSEX, S&P BSE SENSEX INDEX / D