Mumbai, June 2 (IANS) Short covering, coupled with lower-level value buying, lifted the Indian equity markets on Thursday.
The key indices provisionally closed the day's trade with appreciable gains, as healthy buying was witnessed in banking, metal and capital goods stocks.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 39 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 8,218.95 points.
The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,694.28 points, provisionally closed at 26,843.14 points (at 3.30 p.m.) -- up 129.21 points, or 0.48 per cent, from the previous close at 26,713.93 points.
The Sensex during the intra-day trade touched a high of 26,835.16 points and a low of 26,641.02 points.
In contrast, the BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,364 declines and 1,259 advances.
The key indices on Wednesday had closed flat -- marginally in the green -- led by healthy macro-economic data.
The barometer index had edged up by 45.97 points or 0.17 per cent, while the NSE Nifty had risen by 19.85 points or 0.24 per cent.
