Mumbai, Dec 19 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Friday's trade up 245.27 points or 0.90 percent, as strong sentiments were supported by expectations that the European Central Bank will provide further liquidity and that the Goods and Services Tax bill might be taken in parliament's ongoing winter session
Analysts said the market carried on the momentum from the previous day, in part due to the Fed meet which ended Thursday.
Healthy buying was observed in information technology (IT), capital goods metal, bank and oil and gas stocks.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,292.55 points, closed trade at 27,371.84 points, up 245.27 points or 0.90 percent from the previous day's close at 27,126.57 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 27,497.12 points and a low of 27,292.14 points in the intra-day trade.
"Tracking the global cues, the markets opened on a positive note for the second day, but in the second half profit-booking trimmed Nifty’s early gains. IT stocks were in good demand after the announcement of strong first quarter numbers from Accenture," Alex Mathews, head research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said.
The S&P IT index surged by 202.41 points, capital goods index gained by 195.78 points, metal index zoomed 186.50 points, bank index got augmented by 158.40 points and oil and gas index was up 146.13 points.
However, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) index was down 71.67 points, realty index fell 12.32 points and consumer durables index lost 3.02 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed after making healthy gains. It ended the day's trade 65.90 points or 0.81 percent up at 8,225.20 points.
The major Sensex gainers were: ICICI Bank, up 2.95 percent at Rs.355.40; Hindalco, up 2.64 percent at Rs.157.65; Coal India, up 2.49 percent at Rs.376.55; Wipro, up 2.33 percent at Rs.550.45; and Tata Power, up 2.27 percent at Rs.83.40.
The major Sensex losers were: Bajaj Auto, down 1.58 percent at Rs.2,466.30, Bharti Airtel, down 1.54 percent at RS.342.85; Hindustan Unilever, down 1.49 points at Rs.754.65; ITC, down 1.37 perecnt at RS.369.50; and Cipla, down 1.20 percent at Rs.617.60.