45 percent; Tata Steel, down 1.97 percent; ITC, down 1.02 percent; and NTPC, down 0.71 percent.

According to data with the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors Thursday bought shares worth $242.7 million.

Other important Asian markets were trading higher on hopes that the US economy has bottomed out.

The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 173.03 points higher at 10,443.80 points.

At the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the benchmark SSE Composite was ruling 1.99 percent up at 2,383.03 points.

The primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hang Seng was in the green at 21768.51 points, up 365.59 points or 1.71 percent.

All major European markets were also ruling in the positive terrain.

In Britain, the FTSE 100 index was ruling 29.25 percent higher at 5,153.38 points, while its French peer, the CAC 40, was up 16.63 percent at 3,830.42 points.

Germany's DAX, too, was ruling in the positive at 5,729.12 points, up 28.86 percent.