Mumbai, Feb 11 (IANS): India's key equity indices snapped their two-day losing streak on Thursday to close higher in a lacklustre session.

Accordingly, positive global cues along with healthy foreign fund inflows of about Rs 944.36 crore buoyed the market.

However, bouts of profit booking capped gains.

Globally, trading was light in Asia on Thursday, with most major markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Besides, European stock markets were marginally higher Thursday, with investors looking to take their cues from the corporate sector on earnings results.

On the domestic front, the two key indices after consolidating for two days marginally gained and remained range-bound throughout the session.

Among sectors, except auto and PSU bank, all other indices ended in the green, with metals, FMCG and IT indices rising the most.

Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 51,531.52, higher by 222.13 points, or 0.43 per cent, from its previous close.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 also slipped. It ended the day's trade at 15,173.30, higher by 66.80 points, or 0.44 per cent, from its previous close.

"Nifty rose mildly on February 11 after a sideways move on the previous two sessions," said Deepak Jasani - Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

"It could remain in the 15,064-15,257 band in the near term and a breakout either side could see action in that direction."

According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services: "In the near term, the market would actively track key macro data like IIP, CPI and WPI data along with global cues."

In addition, Geojit Financial Services Research Head Vinod Nair said: "The domestic market closed with slight gains after its range-bound rally, tracking gains in index heavyweights and positive European and Asian markets."

"The upward movement in the market was supported by energy, telecom and FMCG stocks with small caps outperforming. Dip in January auto retail sales numbers pushed the sectoral index into the negative territory while PSU banks also remained under pressure."