The Indian stock market extended gains on Friday, although Middle East uncertainties capped gains for the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty, which closed only marginally higher.Sensex gained over 3 points to close at around 77,541 while Nifty 50 rose 20 points to end the session at 24,252. Broader markets performed better, with Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.6%.Here's how analysts read the market pulseThe Indian stock market was largely restricted within range today, with the Sensex and Nifty moving modestly higher, reflecting a balancing act of positive domestic factors versus continued global uncertainties, said Vikram Kasat, Chief Business Officer, Advisory and Dealing at PL Capital. He noted that the positive trend was driven by buying interest in select stocks, with IT stocks under pressure due to cautious investor sentiment globally.High crude prices, geopolitical concerns in the Middle East, and problems in the international bond market have been affecting risk-taking tendencies. On the other hand, some of the financials, metals, and small-caps have been contributing towards the positive side of the equation.“Moving ahead, the markets will continue to be highly volatile and stock-specific, with crude prices, foreign fund inflows, rupee movement, and international trends being some of the key factors,” according to the analyst.US stocksWall Street ended higher on Friday, August 21, as easing concerns around bond-market volatility and stronger U.S. business activity supported sentiment. The S&P 500 rose 0.43% to 7,674.37, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.98% to 53,277.01, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.44% to 26,180.46. Despite Friday's rebound, all three indices ended the week lower.European marketsEuropean markets also ended higher on Friday as resilient economic data and corporate earnings helped offset concerns over elevated oil prices and bond yields. The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.59% to 654.18. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.64% to 10,816.56, while Germany's DAX gained around 0.6% and France's CAC 40 advanced around 0.4%.Tech viewNifty remained range-bound during the day, with the index confined between the 20 EMA and 50 EMA on the hourly chart, said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities. He added that on the daily chart as well, the index remained within the bands of the 20 EMA and 50 EMA.“The RSI remains in a bearish crossover. Overall, sentiment remains sideways to mildly positive. On the lower end, support is placed at 24,200. A fall below 24,200 might trigger a correction towards 24,000. On the higher end, resistance is placed at 24,350; a rise above this level might take the index towards 24,500,” he explained.Most active stocks in terms of turnoverWelspun Corp (Rs 4,537 crore), Netweb Technologies (Rs 2,374 crore), BSE (Rs 2,154 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 1,901 crore), Balrampur Chini (Rs 1,473 crore), Himadri Speciality (Rs 1,167 crore) and Data Patterns (Rs 1,129 crore) were among the most active stocks on NSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with the highest trading turnovers in the day.Most active stocks in volume termsVodafone Idea (Traded shares: 19.06 crore), Urban Company (Traded shares: 6.57 crore), Reliance Power (Traded shares: 6.38 crore), JP Power (Traded shares: 3.4 crore), Yes Bank (Traded shares: 3.39 crore), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 3.22 crore), and Eternal (Traded shares: 3.16 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE.Stocks showing buying interestWelspun Corp, Urban Company, Jindal Saw, JBM Auto, NCC, IIFL Finance and CarTrade Tech were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.52-week highAmong the ones which hit their 52-week highs on NSE included Welspun Corp, Jindal Saw, IIFL Finance, PTC Industries, Schloss Bangalore, Netweb Technologies and Data Patterns (India).Stocks seeing selling pressureStocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Himadri Speciality, Balrampur Chini, Britannia, GSK Pharma, Sumitomo Chemical, Usha Martin and Poly Medicure.52-week lowAmong the ones that hit their 52-week lows on NSE included Sun TV, IRCTC, Aditya Birla Lifestyle and Dabur India.Sentiment meter favours bullsOut of the 3,644 stocks that traded on the NSE on August 21, Friday, 1,884 stocks witnessed advances, 1,630 declined, and 130 remained unchanged.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)