The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty gave up opening losses and finally closed higher on Thursday led by buying in banking and metal stocks.

At close, the BSE barometer was at 48,081 levels, up 375 points while the Nifty50, gained 255 points higher from the day's low to settle at 14,406, up 110 points or 0.77 percent.  Positive European shares also boosted sentiments.

Among Nifty sectoral indices, Nifty financial services, metal and private bank index gained the most, while weakness was seen in pharma, IT and FMCG space.

About 18 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex and 27 of the 50 constituents on the Nifty ended the day in the green with Wipro, ICICI Bank, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, and BPCL topping the charts on the latter. On the Sensex, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and SBI were the additional gainers. All these stocks were up in the range of 2 percent to 3.5 percent. On the downside, Shree Cement, Titan, Tata Consumer Products, HUL, Nestle India, Asian Paints, and Ultratech Cement ended the day as top laggards on the Nifty, down up to 3 percent.

On the contrary, pharma and IT stocks pared their gains and ended in the red today. All the three defensive indices -- Nifty IT, FMCG, and Pharma -- slipped up to 0.75 percent on the NSE. 

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