Mumbai, March 6 (IANS) Buying interest returned to Indian stock markets this week, with a benchmark index rising 3.44 percent from its previous weekly close and foreign investors pumping in almost $1 billion during the truncated four-day trading week.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) moved up 564.94 points or 3.44 percent to end Friday at 16,994.49 points.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too posted gains to end the week at 5,088.7 points, up 166 points or 3.38 percent.

Mid-to-small sized scrips were bought more as shown by BSE broader market indices. The BSE midcap index closed 5.28 percent up and the BSE smallcap index 5.36 percent higher.

The top gainers on the Sensex during the week were Tata Motors (up 11.7 percent), Tata Power (up 9.7 percent), Tata Steel (up 7.6 percent), Bharti Airtel (up 6.8 percent) and DLF (up 6.1 percent).

Among top losers were ONGC (down 2.1 percent), Ranbaxy Labs (down 0.3 percent) and Maruti Suzuki (down 0.2 percent).

Data with markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that foreign funds bought scrips worth $942.05 million during the four-day trading week. Markets were closed Monday on account of Holi.

According to the BSE, the top sectors that attracted interest were metals and realty (both up 7 percent), auto (up 5.3 percent) and banking (up 3.8 percent).

Among global markets, London's FTSE rose 4.6 percent over the week to end at 5,599.76 points - its best performance since September 2008 - after investor confidence got a boost on better than expected US job loss data.

In the US, Wall Street rallied Friday on the upbeat jobs data with benchmark indices such as the Dow Jones industrial average gaining 122.06 points, the Nasdaq rising 34.04 points, and the Standard and Poors 500 moving up 15.72 points.