The Indian equities closed higher in volatile trade on Friday, tracking firm cues from Asian peers, amid sustained fund inflows by foreign investors and strong corporate earnings. Bucking the trend, the broader markets ended lower, with MidCap and SmlCap indices falling as much as 1.46 per cent and 0.52 per cent, respectively. However, the market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 3250, shares advanced were 1438 while 1644 shares declined and 168 were unchanged. On the sectoral front, oil&gas and bankex stocks emerged as top gainers on BSE, rising as much as 0.69 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively.

The 30-share benchmark index closed trade at 34592.39, up by 88.9 points or by 0.26 per cent, and the NSE Nifty ended at 10681.25, up by 30.05 points or by 0.28 per cent.

During the day’s trade, the Sensex touched intraday high of 34638.42 and intraday low of 34342.16, while the NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 10690.4 and intraday low of 10597.1.

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 317.60,+2.63%), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 9460.30,+1.27%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 200.25,+1.26%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 946.75,+1.02%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (Rs. 2447.55,+0.73%), among others.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 509.40,-1.04%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 267.50,-0.89%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 196.50,-0.88%), Bajaj Auto Ltd. (Rs. 3175.10,-0.84%), Wipro Ltd. (Rs. 318.75,-0.72%), were among top losers on BSE.