MUMBAI: Buoyed by positive European markets and healthy buying in consumer durables, FMCG and healthcare stocks, the Indian equity markets on Friday pared all morning losses to close in the green just ahead of the launch of the country's biggest indirect tax reform -- Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- at midnight.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reclaimed the 9,500-mark to close higher by 16.80 points or 0.18 pct at 9,520.90 points.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 30,824.97 points, closed at 30,921.61 points -- up 64.09 points, or 0.21 pct, from its previous close at 30,857.52 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 30,965.45 points and a low of 30,680.66 during intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was bullish -- 1,354 advances and 1,210 declines.

The broader market indices outperformed the Sensex, with the S&P BSE mid-cap index up by 0.63 pct and the small-cap index by 0.66 pct.

"Markets ended with small gains in the last trading session of the week and month. The Nifty opened lower on weak global cues and then hovered within a small range in negative terrain till mid-afternoon trade, later rising mildly to register small gains towards the closing tracking a recovery in European equities," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"The July Series has begun on a positive note even as investors remain cautious ahead of rollout of GST. Major Asian markets have ended on a negative note, while European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX traded higher."

On the currency front, the rupee strengthened by 5 paise to 64.58 to US dollar from its previous close at 64.63.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth 160.48 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrips worth 1,195.71 crore.

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