Among the top gainers in trade were the high beta names like Jindal Steel and Jaiprakash Associates. Among the other top gainers from the Nifty pack included names like HeroMotor Corp, HDFC, IDFC, Cairn India, Jindal Steel, Gail and Coal India.

Stocks that lost ground in trade today were mostly from the Information Technology space which had rallied to 52-week highs on Thursday. Infosys, TCS and Wipro all saw their shares dropping on profit taking.

Other prominent losers from the Nifty space were Maruti Suzuki, Ambuja Cement and Tata Motors. Shares in India's largest tractor player, Mahindra and Mahindra gained after the company said that it has reached an agreement with workers of the Nashik Plant.

Kingfisher Airlines was locked at the upper end of the circuit filter after reports that the company was planning to pay six months wages to its employees.

Adani Power rallied more than 4 per cent after reports that Vinod Adani had picked additional shares in the company.

The metals index saw a sharp rally of more than 2 per cent in trade today with gainers from the pack including Jindal Saw, Jindal Steel, Nalco, Tata Steel and Welspun Gujarat.

The Bank Nifty also ended the day with sharp gains with prominent gainers from the space including Indusind Bank, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia ended the day mixed with the Japanese Nikkei and the Hong Kong's Hang Sang ending the day with gains, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite lost ground.

GoodReturns.in