A benchmark index of Indian equities markets ended Thursday's trade 184.28 points or 0.71 percent up on anticipation of reforms expected to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address to the nation.
Nearly all the sectors were trading in green, except information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK).
Healthy buying was observed in banking, capital goods, metal, healthcare, oil and gas and consumer durables sectors.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,948.30 points, closed trade at 26,103.23 points, up 184.28 points or 0.71 percent from the previous day's close at 25,918.95 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,135 points and a low of 25,945.35 points in the trade so far.
"Markets rose by more than 0.5 percent on Thursday and by more than three percent for the week on the back of expectations of further reforms from the government and reduced concerns on the geo-political situation across the world," said Dipen Shah, head of private client group research, Kotak Securities.
"Quarterly results season was mixed with the domestic companies indicating that, the scenario on ground level will improve only gradually. Over the medium-to-long term, we expect incremental reform initiatives from the government to drive markets. Geo-political issues on the global front and progress of monsoons can be the near-term triggers."
The S&P BSE capital goods gained 251.31 points, metal index got augmented by 243.02 points, bank index increased by 184.23 points, consumer durables index inched up by 176.26 points, oil and gas index was up 152.32 points and healthcare index rose 144.72 points.
The information technology (IT) index was down 7.58 points and TECK index was lower by 2.67 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed the trade by making gains. It was up 52.15 points or 0.67 percent up at 7,791.70 points.
The major Sensex gainers were: Gail India, up 3.79 percent at Rs.426; Sesa Sterlite, up 2.80 percent at Rs.288.30; Tata Motors, up 2.53 percent at Rs.484.60; Tata Power, up 2.37 percent at Rs.90.70; and ONGC, up 2.03 percent at Rs.409.95.
The losers were: Hero MotoCorp, down 2.69 percent at Rs.2,510.95; HDFC, down 1.44 percent at Rs.1,124.50, Hindalco Inds, down 0.83 percent at Rs.178.50, Bharti Airtel, down 0.75 percent at Rs.365.55; and Hindustan Unilever, down 0.61 percent at Rs.714.05.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up by 0.66 percent, however, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.36 percent lower, China's Shanghai Composite Index, was down by 0.74 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.38 percent, Germany's DAX Index gained 0.10 percent and France's CAC 40 increased by 0.05 percent.
The Indian markets will remain closed for trading on Friday on account of Independence Day.
