By IANS,
Mumbai : After staging a rally of sorts during afternoon trade, the Indian equities markets slumped to close marginally higher Friday than their previous close, with a key index ending trade up 0.55 percent.
The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed 0.55 percent or 54.67 points higher from Thursday’s close, and ended at 9,958.22 points after having touched an intra-day high of 10,070.28 points.
The Sensex closed Thursday at 9,903.46 points.
Of the 13 sectoral indices on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the consumer durables index rose the highest on Friday.
Among the top gainers were Hindalco (up 3.23 percent to close at Rs.54.20) and DLF (up 3.03 percent to Rs.291.75). Top losers included Satyam Computers (down 2.63 percent to close at Rs.182.35), Bharti Airtel (down 2.06 percent to Rs.719.60) and Wipro (down 2.04 percent to Rs.247.95).
Market breath was positive, 1,697 stocks advanced against 824 declines, while 78 stocks remained unchanged.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading at 3,046.75 points, 0.44 percent higher than its Thursday close.
Other market indices like the midcap index gained 2.17 percent, while the smallcap index rose 1.58 percent over its previous close.
European and Asian stocks surged in an attempt to trim last year’s record losses on reports that governments across the world would step up efforts to revive the global economy.
In Europe, the FTSE index in Britain was up by 1.09 percent while among Asian markets, the Hang Seng, a key index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, rose 4.55 percent over its last close.
The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was up 1.28 percent.