The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty had a lacklustre trading session on Friday.
The Sensex closed at 17,134, up 3.58 points, while the Nifty closed at 5,190, up 1.6 points.
The benchmark indices moved mainly on global cues. Gains in the first half of the trading session were due to Japan’s central bank’s decision to keep overnight interest rates unchanged. They also expanded the bond buying programme.
“Initial gains were seen in the banking stocks on reports of Cabinet clearing the much awaited Banking Law (Amendment) Bill. Moreover both ICICI Bank and Axis Bank gained more than 2 per cent on better results expectations,” said Ms Shanu Goel, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.
The European markets opened on a weak note as S&P lowered Spain’s rating. Asian markets were down by around 0.3 per cent each. Two of the European markets were in the green.
Top gainers on the BSE were ICICI Bank, Hindalco and GAIL, while the top losers were Coal India, SBI and BHEL.