Firm global cues, banking stocks lift equity indices

Firm global cues along with robust buying in banking stocks on the back of healthy quarterly earnings lifted the key Indian equity indices on Friday.

At 3.30 p.m., the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) provisionally closed at 10,695.30 points, up 77.50 points or 0.73 per cent from the previous close.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 34,747.04 points, closed at 34,969.70 points (3.30 p.m.) -- up 256.10 points or 0.74 per cent from the previous session's close.

The Sensex 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 1,410 advances and 1,227 declines.

The major gainers on the BSE were Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and Larsen and Toubro, while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India and Hero MotoCorp were among the major losers.

On Thursday too, the benchmark indices closed with gains as broadly positive global markets along with healthy quarterly results and value buying boosted investors' sentiments.

The Nifty50 closed higher by 47.25 points or 0.45 per cent at 10,617.80 points while the Sensex closed at 34,713.60 points up 212.33 points or 0.62 per cent.

--IANS

rrb/him/mr