| Marginal upside in heavyweight Reliance Industries and a near 5 per cent rise in Oil & Natural Gas Corp. kept indices in the black, despite weakness in most software, banking, and metal companies. |
| Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex ended at 13130.79, up 40 points or 0.3 per cent over Thursday's close. Intraday, the index moved almost 130 points between a lifetime high of 13147 and 13018. |
| National Stock Exchange Nifty closed at 3805.35, up 14 points or 0.4 per cent, after moving between a lifetime high of 3809.65 and 3771. Analysts said the market needs to consolidate for some time since Sensex has breached the crucial 13000. |
| "It is always better if market moves in a slow and steady manner rather than leaping to new highs. There should be intermittent corrections in order to ensure a smooth trend and keep valuations in check," a strategist said. He, however, pointed that with economic fundamentals well in place there was no reason for the rally to cease. |
| Analysts also noted that since June foreign fund inflows to Indian equities have steadily regained momentum, taking the aggregate investment so far since June to $4.5 bln. |
| They, however, advise against getting wooed by the figures, as such funds have been notorious in the past, causing heavy losses through sudden exits. |
| Gains in Reliance Energy, which emerged top Nifty performer today with over 7 per cent rise, were attributed to a technical breakout. Analysts said the share could see further upside of about 10 per cent, but gains are likely to be spread over a couple of weeks. |
| ONGC, the other biggest gainer on the index today, rallied following the company's contract with an Abu Dhabi-based company, which is likely to increase ONGC's gas supply by 2 mln metric standard cu meters per day by Nov 2008. |
| Among the laggards were HCL Technologies, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Hindalco Industries, and HDFC Bank, with nearly 2 per cent losses. |
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