Mumbai: A surge in consumer durables and oil and gas stocks on Friday saved the day for the Sensex, which closed up at 32,325, reversing its two-day slide, reports PTI.
Investors liquidating short positions, coupled with a firm trend in Europe, supported the late recovery, helping erase the initial losses.
The 30-share index started on a bearish note, but late buying helped it settle up 87.53 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 32,325.41. The gauge had lost 337 points in the previous two days.
The NSE Nifty was above the 10,000 mark at the close at 10,066.40, up 52.75 points, or 0.53 per cent, after hitting a high of 10,075.25. On a weekly basis, the BSE managed to sign off with gains for the fifth straight week by rising 15.53 points, or 0.04 per cent. NSE too ended up 51.90 points, or 0.51 per cent.
Drugmakers, including Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, dropped the most on the Sensex and the Nifty, after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world's biggest maker of generic medicines, slashed its profit forecast for the second time this year amid an acceleration in price erosion and delays in US product approvals.
In the Sensex chart, Hero MotoCorp blazed a trail, gaining the most by 3.11 per cent on the back of encouraging earnings numbers.
Coal India jumped 3.04 per cent and Tata Steel 2.85 per cent. Consumer durables hit it big, with a rise of 4.21 per cent, followed by oil and gas and metal. Healthcare was not as lucky, plunging 0.94 per cent. Pharma shares such as Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma and Lupin fell by up to 3.76 per cent.
