Mumbai April 27 (IANS) Key domestic equity indices reached their new three-month highs on Friday as better than expected quarterly results along with healthy buying in banking and capital goods stocks enhanced investors risk-taking appetite.
Even positive global cues and a massive influx of investments by domestic institutional investors (DII) supported the indices northward trajectory.
Accordingly the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10 692.30 points up 74.50 points or 0.70 per cent from the previous close.
Similarly the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE ended higher. The Sensex which opened at 34 747.04 points closed at 34 969.70 points -- up 256.10 points or 0.74 per cent -- from the previous session s close.
It touched a high of 35 065.37 and a low of 34 744.73 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1 401 advances and 1 234 declines. The market breadth in the NSE too was bullish during the day.
In the broader markets the S&P BSE mid-cap index rose by 0.79 per cent and the small-cap index closed higher by 0.42 per cent.
"Markets closed higher on Friday led by buying in bank shares and favourable global cues. Both the Sensex and the Nifty closed at their highest levels in more than 12 weeks " said Deepak Jasani Head Retail Research HDFC Securities.
"All the Asian markets have closed on a positive note. European indices like FTSE 100 CAC 40 and DAX currently traded in the green " Jasani told IANS.
Abhijeet Dey Senior Fund Manager Equities BNP Paribas Mutual Fund said: "Stock markets in India witnessed a gap up opening today and continued to trade firm through the day. Encouraging Q4 numbers and positive global cues buoyed investor sentiment and pushed the Sensex to flirt with the psychologically important 35 000 level."
"Global sentiment was also upbeat after treasury yields in the US pulled back and the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged " he added.
On the currency front the Indian rupee strengthened by nine paise to 66.67 against the US dollar from its previous close at 66.76.
In terms of investments provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 759.21 crore while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 633.71 crore.
Sector-wise the S&P BSE banking index surged by 559.54 points followed by the capital goods index by 266.43 points and the oil and gas index by 152.15 points.
On the other hand the S&P BSE IT index fell by 142.99 points the consumer durables by 55.31 points and the Teck (technology media and entertainment) index by 52.62 points.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up 8.97 per cent at Rs 538.90; State Bank of India up 3.99 per cent at Rs 242.65; ICICI Bank up 3.34 per cent at Rs 288.05; Sun Pharma up 2.28 per cent at Rs 524.25; and Larsen and Toubro up 2.23 per cent at Rs 1 377.00 per share.
The top losers were Tata Consultancy Services down 2.42 per cent at Rs 3 454.80; Wipro down 2.17 per cent at Rs 275.35; Maruti Suzuki down 1.90 per cent at Rs 8 777.95; Coal India down 1.64 per cent at Rs 285.55; and Hero MotoCorp down 1.20 per cent at Rs 3 711.65 per share.
--IANS
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