After three sessions of losses, the key Indian equity indices on Thursday recovered from the lows to close in the green as positive global cues, along with inflow of foreign funds and healthy buying in consumer durables, capital goods and metal stocks, lifted investors' risk-taking appetite.
On a closing basis, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) rose by 61.60 points or 0.59 per cent at 10,504.80 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE closed at 33,969.64 points -- up 176.26 points or 0.52 per cent -- from its previous session's close.
The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,915 advances and 1,002 declines.
"Markets rallied higher today after trading in a narrow range in previous few sessions. The rally came on back of positive global cues," Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.
The S&P BSE mid-cap index closed higher by 0.71 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.88 per cent.
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"Indian equities recovered over 100 points and closed positively. Foreign fund inflows and gains at most of Asian markets influenced trading sentiments," Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS.
Provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors purchased scrips worth Rs 212.05 crore and domestic institutional investors worth Rs 325.24 crore.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened by 13-14 paise to close at 63.40 against the US dollar from its previous close at 63.53-54.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said: "Positive global cues and improvement in domestic service PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) data for December helped the market to move out of the subdued phase of trading."
Data released during market hours revealed that the seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services PMI Business Activity Index registered an overall increase from 48.5 in November to 50.9 in December.
The data showed that new orders and easing of inflationary pressures pushed the output of the Indian service sector higher during the month under review.
"Global growth expectation and continued buying on metal stocks raised the market sentiment, while PSU banks outperformed on account of finalisation of recapitalisation," Nair said.
Sectorwise, the S&P BSE consumer durables index rose by 578.32 points, followed by metal index by 420.56 points and capital goods index by 408.55 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE auto index fell by 28.12 points, realty index by 5.68 points and FMCG index by 0.26 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Thursday were: Tata Steel, up 3.74 per cent at Rs 760.75; Dr Reddy's Lab, up 3.14 per cent at Rs 2,409.50; Larsen and Toubro, up 3.08 per cent at Rs 1,315.14; ONGC, up 2.92 per cent at Rs 199.35; and Asian Paints, up 2.71 per cent at Rs 1,172.05.
Major Sensex losers were: Tata Motors, down 0.81 per cent at Rs 429.70; Power Grid, down 0.67 per cent at Rs 200.45; Axis Bank, down 0.40 per cent at Rs 558.10; Infosys, down 0.37 per cent at Rs 1,015.30; and Maruti Suzuki, down 0.37 per cent at Rs 9,382.25.
--IANS
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