 "IT, oil and gas stocks surge Sensex")
A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets closed Friday's trade 173 points up, as information technology (IT), oil and gas, bank, metal and technology, entertainment and media (TECk) stocks gained.
The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,265.13 points, ended the day at 20,366.82 points - up 173.47 points or 0.86 percent from its previous day's close at 20,193.35 points.
The Sensex hit a high of 20,391.95 points and a low of 20,149.01 points intra-day.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 47.25 points or 0.79 percent higher at 6,048.35 points.
The markets' sentiments were upbeat as India's wholesale price based inflation fell to 5.05 percent in January, the lowest level in seven months, on the back of slower increase in food and vegetables prices.
India's main inflation indicator measured in terms of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was at 7.31 percent in the corresponding month of last year and 6.16 percent in December 2013.
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Food inflation eased to 8.8 percent in January from a high of 13.68 percent in the previous month, according to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry here.
All sectoral indices of the BSE closed in the positive territory except healthcare. IT, oil and gas, bank, metal and TECk stocks gained.
The BSE IT index went up 128.60 points, while the oil and gas index gained 100.40. The bank index grew 75.38 points, while the metal index was up 63 points, and TECk index was higher by 61.35 points.
However, the BSE Healthcare index closed Friday's trade down 12.38 points.
The scrip of the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) Friday fell 1.64 percent or 24.55 points at Rs.1,475.10 after it reported 34 percent slump in its net profit for the third quarter of the current financial year.
The bank posted a net profit of Rs.2,234.34 crore for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2013, as compared to Rs.3,396.06 crore posted in the corresponding quarter of last year, registering a decline of 34.20 percent.
The major losers included Bajaj Auto, down 3.42 percent at Rs.1,839.90; BHEL, down 2.21 percent at Rs.148.40; Cipla, down 2.01 percent at Rs.373.35; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.79 percent at Rs.1,936.70; and Sun Pharma, down 0.94 percent at Rs.608.95.
The prominent Sensex gainers were Tata Motors, up 3.25 percent at Rs.388.15; Gail India, up 2.56 percent at Rs.360.10; Reliance Industries (RIL), up 1.74 percent at Rs.821.50; and NTPC, up 1.58 percent at Rs.132.20.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.53 percent down, and Hong Kong's Hang gained 0.60 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index gained by 0.83 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.17 percent up. Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.83 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index was up 0.58 percent.