Mumbai April 19 (IANS) The key Indian equity markets provisionally closed higher on Thursday tracking a similar trend in the benchmark Asian markets.
Heavy buying in the metal capital goods and IT stocks also helped the market sentiment remain positive.
At 3.30 p.m. the wider Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) provisionally closed higher by 39.10 points or 0.37 per cent at 10 565.30 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE which opened at 34 403.67 points closed at 34 427.29 points -- up 95.61 points or 0.28 per cent from its previous session s close.
The Sensex touched a high of 34 478.82 points and a low of 34 358.91 during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1 265 advances and 1 082 declines.
On Wednesday profit booking along with heavy selling pressure in the banking sector stock led the key Indian equity indices to break their nine-day gaining streak and end in the red.
The Nifty50 fell by 22.50 points or 0.21 per cent to close at 10 526.20 points on Wednesday and the Sensex closed at 34 331.68 points -- down 63.38 points or 0.18 per cent.
On Thursday the major gainers on the BSE were Tata Steel Yes Bank Bharti Airtel Larsen and Toubro and ONGC while Axis Bank Coal India Kotak Mahindra Bank Hero MotoCorp and IndusInd Bank were among the top losers.
On NSE the top gainers were Hindalco Vedanta and Tata Steel whereas the major losers were BPCL Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil Corp.
--IANS
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