Sensex up 80 pts, closes at 16,153

A benchmark index for Indian equities market recouped intra-day losses to close over 82 points up on Friday. Good buying was seen in banks, FMCG and energy scrips after the country's largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), reported robust earnings for the last quarter of Fiscal 2011-12 and the rupee recovered from record lows.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened below the key 16,000 level at 15,868.07 points in the morning, closed at 16,152.75 points, up 0.51 percent or 82.27 points from its previous close of 16,070.48 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 16,206.35 points and a low of 15,809.71 in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index declined 15.85 points while the smallcap index declined 14.94 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.44 percent higher at 4,891.45 points.

Buying was seen in banking, FMCG and PSU stocks after State Bank of India posted a massive hike in net profit at Rs.4,050 crore for the quarter ended March 31 against the like period of the previous financial year. The bank closed 5.08 percent up at Rs.1,942.