The Nifty and the Sensex gained half a per cent on Thursday on expectations that the bill on FDI in multi-brand retail will go through in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) of Parliament.

Domestic sentiment was buoyed after the Bahujan Samaj Party has promised to vote in favour of FDI in the Rajya Sabha, giving much relief to the Government which is bracing for a crucial vote tomorrow.

The Nifty closed at 5,931 up 31 points and the Sensex closed at 19,487, up 95 points. Both the indices, however, were the red until 2:50 p.m.

“Investors should adopt a cautious approach and avoid long positions until the Nifty closes above 5,950,” said Shubham Agarwal, Associate V-P & Senior Technical Equities Analyst, Motilal Oswal Securities.

Volatility was down eight per cent and the volatility index India Vix closed at 15.24.

JP Associates, Axis Bank, RInfra, BHEL and Tata Motors were the top five Nifty gainers while HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, TCS and Ranbaxy were the top losers.