A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday made gains after two days of losses, as healthcare and information technology (IT) stocks rose.
There was healthy buying in healthcare, IT and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors, while selling pressure was observed in metal, automobile and banking scrip.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,132.08 points, ended trade at 25,099.92 points (provisional), up 37.25 points or 0.15 percent from the previous day's close at 25,062.67 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 25,209.61 points and a low of 25,032.94 points intra-day.
"Markets ended almost flat on Friday with the defensive sectors like IT and pharma gaining," Dipen Shah of Kotak Securities.
"For the week, markets remained in a range, ahead of the budget and on concerns relating to the monsoon. Geo-political issues also kept the sentiments weak."
The S&P BSE healthcare index surged by 272.33 points, followed by IT index which gained by 221.59 points and TECK index which rose 91.28 points. But the metal index dropped by 170.01 points, while automobile index was down 82.08 points and bankex slid by 79.98 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE)also closed in positive territory. It gained 15.60 points or 0.21 percent at 7,508.80 points.
The major Sensex gainers were: Sun Pharma, up 3.97 percent at Rs.660.65; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 3.85 percent at Rs.2,398.40; Cipla, up 2.59 percent at Rs.437.30; DrReddys Lab, up 1.93 percent at Rs.2,553.15; and Wipro, up 1.90 percent at Rs.545.85.
The losers were: Hindalco Inds, down 2.63 percent at Rs.160.95; BHEL, 2.57 percent at RS.244.90; Bharti Airtel, down 2.08 percent at Rs.331.60; Sesa Sterlite; down 1.78 percent at Rs.289.25; and Mahindra and Mahindra, down 1.69 percent at Rs.1,153.85.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.39 percent down, China's Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.11 percent lower. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng grew 0.10 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.13 percent up and Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.05 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index gained 0.03 percent at the closing bell here.
--IndO-Asian News Service
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