Propped by blue-chip ICICI Bank, which reported stronger-than-expected second quarter results, the BSE benchmark Sensex on Friday recorded a gain of 91 points in the final hour of trade to close above the psychological 20,000 mark.
     
Snapping the three-day losing streak, the 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange settled the session at 20,032.34, higher by 91.30 points, or 0.46 percent.
     
Bucking weak global cues, the wide-based 50-share Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange too gained 0.50 percent to finish at 6,017.70.
     
Sensex was trading in a tight range in the early session and had plunged 172 points to hit an intra-day low of 19,768. But the index recovered smartly after the nation's largest private sector lender declared robust September quarter profits.      

Analysts said better Q2 performance by blue-chips such as ICICI Bank, BHEL, ITC and M&M helped the markets to recoup the losses in the second half of the trade.
     
"Currently market is moving in the tune of score cards by the India Inc. The results announced so far have been slightly better than expected. Bargain hunting also helped the index to gain in the final hour," CNI Research CMD Kishore Ostwal said.      

Salient stocks

ICICI Bank zoomed 6.54 percent to emerge as the biggest gainer on the Sensex. The lender today posted a jump of 22 percent in its Q2 profit at Rs 1,395 crore.
     
ITC, that reported a rise of 23.45 percent in Q2 profit, ended 2.33 percent higher.
     
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries rose 1.18 percent to close at Rs 1,095.80 on hopes of better-than-expected Q2 earnings. RIL will announce its numbers tomorrow.     

Other major gainers include, Maruti that climbed 1.86 percent, L&T 0.92 percent, Jindal Steel 0.77 percent and HDFC Bank by 0.24 percent.
     
In the BSE-30 pack, 20 stocks closed with losses, whereas 9 managed to settle with gains. ACC closed unchanged.      

Losses in metal, realty and power stocks, however, capped some of the gains. Hindalco dropped 2.79 percent, the most on the Sensex. Tata Steel declined 2.44 percent and Sterlite 1 percent.
     
Some other major losers were Tata Motors, which shed 2.61 percent, R-Infra 1.92 percent, Hero Honda 1.86 percent and Wipro 1.77 percent.
     
On the global front, Asian markets ended in the red and Europe too was trading lower during the afternoon session.