After trading flat for most of the day, the key Indian equity markets closed higher on Friday as there was a sudden surge of buying interest from the investors.The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 28,498.72 points, closed at 28,532.11 points -- higher by 108.63 points, or 0.38 per cent, from the previous close at 28,423.48 points.In the day's trade, Sensex touched a high of 28,581.58 points and low of 28,427.63 points.The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 35 points or 0.40 percent higher at 8,809.65 points."Benchmark indices toed the flat line for most of the day, before witnessing a surge of buying interest in late afternoon trade. Both the Sensex and the Nifty finally closed the day with gains of over 0.25 per cent," said Shreyash Devalkar, Fund Manager - Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund."Market sentiment was also buoyed by the Indian Meteorological Dep'rtment's monsoon update released yesterday, which said that cumulative rainfall received by the country as a whole so far, was 2 per cent below the long period a"erage," he added.In Friday's trade, good buying was observed in telecom, auto and realty, while selling pressure was seen in energy sector.
The S&P BSE telecom index got augmented by 1.48 per cent, auto index moved up by 1.01 per cent and realty index increased by 0.95 per cent. However, energy index slipped by 0.65 per cent.The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were 0.40 percent and 0.39 percent higher respectively. Mid-cap index was higher by 0.49 percent and small-cap stocks by 0.36 percent.The major Sensex gainers on Friday were: Adani Ports, up 3.55 per cent at Rs 268.15; Bharti Airtel, up 2.66 per cent at Rs 318.95; Maruti Suzuki, up 1.98 per cent at Rs 5158.50 and Sun Pharma, up 1.50 per cent at Rs 782.10.The losers were: Coal India, down 1.64 per cent at Rs 332.50; Reliance Industries, down 1.58 per cent at Rs 1012.85 and Hindustan Unilever, down 0.73 per cent at Rs 919.85.Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.01 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.45 per cent and China's Shanghai Composite Index was higher by 0.14 per cent.In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up by 1.07 per cent, France's CAC 40 moved up by 0.81 per cent and Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.26 per cent at the closing in the Indian markets.