Nifty up 41 points; ends below 10,400

Mumbai: Benchmark Nifty continued its rally for the 7th consecutive session to close at 10,389.70 on Friday, driven largely by buying support from FMCG, pharma, IT, media and energy sectors.

European stocks edged higher in sluggish post- Thanksgiving trading. Asian stocks gained after volatile trade.

US stock markets remained closed yesterday on account of Thanksgiving holiday.

The NSE Nifty opened higher at 10,366.80 and moved in a range of 10,404.50 and 10,362.25 before ending higher by 40.95 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 10,389.70 -- its highest closing level since November 6.

It saw an intra-day movement of 42.25 points.

The broader markets outperformed, with the Nifty Small Cap and Midcap indices rising 0.50 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively.

Sector-wise, Pharma rose by 0.77 per cent followed by FMCG 0.72 per cent, IT 0.67 per cent, Media 0.56 per cent, Auto 0.40 per cent, Infra 0.32 per cent and Private Bank 0.29 per cent.

However, both Metal and PSU Bank fell by 0.57 per cent.

Major index gainers were Aurobindo Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, GAIL, Bharti InfraTel, Ultratech Cement and Powergrid.

Losers included Hindalco, Vedanta, SBI, ICICI Bank, UPL, Tata Steel, Dr Reddy's and Hero MotoCo.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was in favour of gainers.

On NSE, 1,034 shares advanced and 731 declined, while 65 remained unchanged.

Total securities that hit their price bands were 167.

Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 28,832.25 crore from Rs 29,651.46 crore on Thursday.

A total of 15,158.20 lakh shares changed hands in 10,102,886 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on NSE stood at Rs 1,44,88,532.06 crore.