Markets End The Day Higher; Metal Pack Leads

Benchmark indices ended the day higher led by strong gains in metal stocks. The Sensex ended the day higher by 169 points, while the Nifty rallied 61 points in trade.

Leading the set of gainers in trade were Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Power Grid, State Bank of India and Cipla. On the other hand Infosys was the major loser from the Nifty.

Shares in Yes Bank, which had fallen almost 20 per cent in two-trading sessions ended the day with 5 per cent gains. Gail, which had fallen to 52-week lows earlier this week, was up for the third straight day. The stock has gained nearly 7 per cent in 3-trading sessions.

Equitas Holdings Ltd extended its losing streak to the fourth straight day, falling as much as 4.5 percent.

Shares in Larsen and Toubro gained ground after the company bagged an order in the range of Rs 1,000 crore- Rs 2,500 crore from Rail Vikas Nigam, the engineering major said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the rupee was trading with strong gains against the US dollar at 70.56. European markets were trading significantly higher led by gains in the German DAX. The US Dow Futures also pointed to higher openings for the US Markets. The German DAX, French CAC and the UK's FTSE were all trading with gains of nearly half per cent.