The Nifty ended the day higher by 43 points, while the Sensex gained 176 points (provisional) in trade. Pharma stocks were the star performers in trade following with Sun Pharma hitting a lifetime high and gaining 4 per cent in trade.

Among the other stocks that gained from the sector were Cipla, Aurobindo Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Divis Labs and Orchid Chemicals. The spurt in domestic pharma stocks was largely on account of a Supreme Court ruling in a cancer patent against Novartis.

High beta names had a good day including those from the metal, real estate and infrastructure space.

PSU Banking stocks had a great run in trade today with stocks from the space including Canara Bank, Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Oriental bank, Union Bank of India and Syndicate Bank gaining ground.

The Mid Cap index ended the day with good gains of around 2 per cent. Stocks from the space that saw maximum traction were Divis Labs, Bharat Forge, Indian Hotels, Karnataka Bank, JSW Steel, Reliance Capital and Sintex.

Nifty shares that lost ground in trade were Asian paints, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Ultratech Cement.

IT stocks had a quite day in trade with TCS and HCL subdued, while Infosys gained 1 per cent ahead of its results to be declared on April 12.

Realty stocks saw buying support in line with the broad markets, with stocks from the sector that gained including DB Realty, Anant Raj and Unitech among the gainers.

Meanwhile, markets in Europe were trading higher, while most of the markets in Asia closed with losses. Indian markets are expected to trade in a narrow range and would now await the earning season which kicks-off with the results of Infosys.

GoodReturns.in