Aided by positive global cues and hopes of a likely rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India in its policy review next week, bulls staged a comeback and helped Indian markets scale new highs once again.

While the Sensex gained 135.70 points (0.44%) to end at 31,273.29, the Nifty 50 closed up 37.40 points (0.39%) at 9,653.50.

“Indian markets hugged the positive territory and traded with gains through the day. Taking cues from robust global markets, both the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty opened in the green and traded range-bound for most of the day, before closing with gains of over 0.25%,” BNP Paribas Mutual Fund senior fund manager- equities Karthikraj Lakshmanan said.

Market breadth was nearly even on BSE with 1,464, out of a total of 2,850 scrips, advancing, 1,231 declining and 155 remaining unchanged. As far as NSE is concerned, advances outnumbered declines marginally on NSE with 989, out of 1,756 scrips, advancing, 685 declining and 82 remaining unchanged.

The Nifty Pharma index continued its rise after pharma stocks bounced back after the pounding that they received early this week. While the Pharma Index closed up 1.64%, the Nifty FMCG index also gained nearly 1%.

Hero Motocorp was the top gainer on Nifty 50, ending up 3.12% at Rs 3,849.95, with volumes of over 5.7 lakh shares traded. Some of the other gainers included Cipla (up 3.05% to Rs 531.30), YES Bank (up 2.31% to Rs 1478), Adani Ports (up 2.23% to Rs 357) and Aurobindo Pharma (up 2.21% to Rs 592.45). A total of 70 securities hit 52-week highs on NSE.

As far as losers are concerned, GAIL topped the list, closing down 2.13% at Rs 401.60, with volumes of over 25.92 lakh shares being traded. Some of the other losers included BPCL, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vedanta, Tata Steel and ACC. 39 securities hit new 52-week lows on NSE.