The benchmark BSE Sensex ended higher by over 60 points as the investor sentiment was buoyed after t he GST Council pruned the list of goods to be taxed at 28 per cent. to just 50.

The decision was taken at a crucial meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council where the Centre and States are in discussions to reduce the number of items in the 28 per cent slab.

However, investors remained wary ahead of factory output data for September to be released later in the day.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 63.63 points or 0.19 per cent at 33,314.56 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up 12.8 points or 0.12 per cent at 10,321.75. The Sensex touched the day's high of 33,380.42 and a low of 33,108.09.

Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods gained the most by 1.87 per cent, followed by consumer durables 1.36 per cent, banking 1.00 per cent and PSU 0.87 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index fell 0.92 per cent, oil & gas 0.71 per cent, auto 0.63 per cent and IT 0.22 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were State Bank of India (+6.2%), L&T (+3.9%), HUL (+2.99%), M&M (+2.34%) and ICICI Bank (+2.25%), while the major losers were Tata Motors (-4.01%), Reliance (-2.00%), Asian Paints (-1.57%), Sun Pharma (-1.42%) and Kotak Bank (-1.27%).

As per provisional data released by stock exchanges, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 713.75 crore yesterday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 231.25 crore.

“Political tensions amidst emerging power struggle in the Middle East is responsible for the rise in crude oil prices," Axis Securities' analysts said in an email to Reuters. “As a result, oil marketing companies are trading lower.”

Asian shares slipped on Friday on uncertainty about US tax reforms after Senate Republicans unveiled a plan that differed from the House of Representatives' version in several key areas, including a delay in the timing of a corporate tax cut.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.1 per cent while Japan's Nikkei lost 1.0 per cent. MSCI's all-country equity index posted its first daily loss in more than two weeks on Thursday, ending its longest daily winning streak since 2003.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 lost 0.38 per cent while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.58 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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