Mumbai: The bulls staged a comeback during second half of equity trading session on Friday amid expectations that the government may soon announce steps to revive economic growth.
The BSE S&P Sensex closed 228 points or 0.6 per cent higher at 36,701, while the Nifty 50 was up by 88 points or 0.8 per cent to 10,829. Except for FMCG and private banks, all sectoral indices were in the green at the National Stock Exchange. Nifty media gained by 4.1 per cent, metal by 3.4 per cent, PSU banks by 2 per cent and pharma by 1.4 per cent.
Among stocks, Zee Entertainment was up by 6.5 per cent to close at Rs 350.50 per share. UPL gained by 6.1 per cent, Vedanta by 5.7 per cent, Yes Bank by 5.6 per cent and Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 5.2 per cent.
Heavyweight Reliance Industries gained by 2.36 per cent to close at Rs 1,275.95 per share. The other prominent gainers were ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Grasim, Indian Oil Corporation and Coal India.
However, private lenders like IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra were among the losers. ITC, Eicher Motors, Power Grid and Hindustan Lever also shed gains marginally. Meanwhile, Asian shares struggled to make headway as uncertainty continued over how much the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1 per cent higher. Japan's benchmark Nikkei added 0.4 per cent while Shanghai Composite Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5 per cent each.