Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 29 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices erased early losses on Friday and closed marginally higher led by a rally in pharma and FMCG stocks.

At the closing bell, the BSE SP Sensex was 224 points or 0.69 per cent higher at 32,424 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 90 points or 0.95 per cent at 9,580.

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty realty up by 4.2 per cent, pharma by 3.2 per cent and FMCG by 2.9 per cent.

Among stocks, Vodafone Idea surged by 12.7 per cent to Rs 6.56 per unit after reports indicated that Google is looking to enter the Indian telecom market with a 5 per cent stake purchase in the embattled telco. The telecom major denied the report in regulatory filings.

Software major Wipro Ltd climbed by 6.3 per cent after it announced the appointment of Thierry Delaporte as its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director from July 6. Till recently, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Capgemini Group.

Energy majors IndianOil Corporation, ONGC and Bharat Petroleum Corporation were up by 7.4 per cent, 5.1 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively while pharma giants Dr Reddy's and Sun Pharma rose by 4.4 per cent and 3.8 per cent.

However, those which lost were Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Tata Consultancy Services and Titan.

Meanwhile, Asia's stock markets pulled back as investors awaited the US response to China's parliament pressing ahead with national security legislation for Hong Kong.

Japan's Nikkei lost 0.18 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.74 per cent. (ANI)