Mid-small sized scrips are flavour of the day

Mumbai, Nov 6 : Indian equities markets Friday benefited from a buying momentum, with representative indices for mid-to-small sized scrips performing better than a key benchmark index.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened higher at 16,137.42 points, closed at 16,158.28 points, 0.59 percent or 94.38 points above Thursday's close at 16,063.9 points.

Around the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), too, closed in the positive terrain at 4,796.15 points, up 0.64 percent or 30.6 points over its last close.

Mid-to-smaller capitalised scrips found favour with buyers, with the BSE midcap index closing 2.27 percent up and the BSE small cap index ending 2.24 percent higher.

The market breadth was also affected by the all-round buying sentiment and turned positive. A total of 1,944 stocks advanced compared to 780 that declined, while 63 remained unchanged.

Among the top gainers on the Sensex were Jaiprakash Associates, up 4.76 percent at Rs.227.80; Tata Steel, up 3.08 percent at Rs.499.70; SBI, up 3.06 percent at Rs.2,204.20 and Sterlite, up 2.21 percent at Rs.804.05.

Leading losers were Tata Power, down 3.84 percent at Rs.1,271.50; Hindustan Unilever, down 2.12 percent at Rs.273; Hero Honda, down 1.98 percent at Rs.1,529.90, and ITC, down 1.53 percent at Rs.248.55.

According to data with the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors bought shares worth $56.8 million Friday.

Other leading Asian markets closed in the green.

The primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hang Seng, closed 350.64 points or 1.63 percent up at 21,829.72 points.

The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 71.91 points or 0.74 percent higher at 9,789.35 points.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange composite index shut shop 0.28 higher at 3,164.04 points.

The Korean index, Kospi, rose 1.3 percent to 1,572.46 points.

European markets were ruling flat.

Britain's FTSE 100 index was ruling 0.21 percent higher at 5,136.27 points while its German peer, DAX, was ruling at 5,479.94 points, down 0.02 percent.

The French index, CAC 40, was also ruling in the red 3,702.04 points, down 0.18 percent.