Nifty regains 8,000 mark as mkts stay upbeat

Markets on Friday after getting off to a good start in the morning lost steam midway to erase initial gains asnd end just over half a per cent up. 

The BSE Sensex gained 161.19 points to stand at  26,392  while the Nifty gained 53 points to stand at 8001.95 on close.

Midcap and smallcap indices eked out marginal gains to end at 10,759 and 10,992, respectively.

The BSE oil, IT and metal indices led the rally, with gains of around 1 per cent each, while the banking and pharma indice ended in the red.

The rupee continued to trade weak against the US dollar, down 7 paise at 66.11, following fresh demand for the US currency from banks and importers on the back of higher dollar overseas.

After falling for three straight days, gold prices recovered by Rs 50 to Rs 26,700 per ten grams at the bullion market on Friday, supported by fresh purchases by jewellers to meet seasonal demand amid a firming global trend.

Market movers

Sun Pharma, Lupin, Coal India, TCS and Cipla were among losers while ONGC, Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and GAIL were top gainers on the BSE.

Sun Pharma in particular plunged 4 per cent after the company faced class action suit in US over 2009 plant closures. US court of appeals affirmed lower court's findings that Caraco, the subsidiary of Sun Pharma, violated Worker Adjustment Act.

Kitchen appliance maker TTK Prestige shares jumped as much as 6 per cent to hit intraday high of Rs 3,964.80 after the company announced that it has reached a long-term agreement with its workers union at its Hosur unit in Tamil Nadu.

Shares of engineering firm Kalpataru Power Transmission jumped as much as 5.8 per cent to hit intraday high of Rs 267 after the company said that it bagged contracts worth Rs 880 crore in both domestic and international markets.

Shares of Cipla soared nearly 3 per cent in morning trade on bourses after the company said it expects 20 per cent growth in revenues in the current fiscal. Shares of the company, however, closed at Rs 659.75, down 1.40 points or 0.21 per cent on BSE.

Global markets

The Asian shares extended their rally for the second consecutive session, on Friday, after firm US economic data cheered the mood of the investors. Chinese stocks rose for the second day, with Shanghai Composite surging nearly 5 per cent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 3 per cent after lackluster monthly data on inflation and household spending raised hopes of further stimulus.

Europe's stock markets opened higher as well on Friday following strong gains across Asia. In initial trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index gained 0.24 per cent to 6,207.05 points. In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 edged up 0.20 per cent to 9,687.70 and the CAC 40 in Paris crept 0.12 per cent higher to 4,663.98 points.