Provisional: Market ends higher led by IT, financials

Benchmark indices closed in the green zone with Sensex and Nifty gaining 0.4-0.5% higher led by financials and information technology shares.

TCS, Wipro, Infosys, HDFC, SBI, ITC are the top Sensex gainers

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 115.63 points higher at 21,190.22 and the broader Nifty gained 37.20 points at  6316.10.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 743.70 crore on Thursday, 26 December 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

On the global front, most Asian share markets notched up gains on Friday after another powerful performance by Wall Street, while Japanese economic data impressed and the dollar briefly broke the 105 yen barrier for the first time in five years.

Shanghai made the running with a rise of 1.7% as money rates eased and China set its yuan at an historic high. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.8 %.

Supporting sentiment was another record close for the Dow, while the S&P 500 brought its gains for the year so far to 29%.

Tokyo's Nikkei eked out a slim gain, logging a six-year closing high. The index remains 55.6% higher for the year, its best annual performance since 1972, driven by Japan's aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Back home, the rupee was off lows in afternoon trades due to dollar sale by state-run banks on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The rupee was trading at Rs 61.87 compared with previous close of Rs 62.16 per dollar.