Mumbai, Jul 20 (IANS): Domestic equities are a breath away from the psychological levels of 20,000.

Nifty opened flat on Thursday, but soon gained momentum to close with handsome gains of 146 points at 19,979 levels, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

All sectors ended in the green, except IT and consumer durables. BFSI, FMCG and pharma were the top gainers, up 1 pert cent each. On the backdrop of consistent FIIs buying (Rs 16,300 crore month till date), sound macros and micros, and surplus monsoon so far, Nifty has rallied by 15 pert cent since April 1, and 4 pert cent month till date, Khemka said.

Nifty should most likely cross the 20,000-mark on Friday, given the ongoing momentum and clear strength visible in the market, he added.

Strong heavy weights results are likely to further influence the market direction in the near term. Investors eagerly await Reliance Q1 results, which will be announced on Friday, and management commentaries on the same along with further details on Jio's financial listing.

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said the upside momentum continued in the market on Thursday as Nifty closed the day with handsome gains of 146 points.

After opening on a flat note, the market slipped into weakness in the early part of the session. A sustainable buying emerged from the intraday support of 19,750 levels and the market displayed strength on upside in the mid to later part of the session. New all-time high was registered at 19,991 levels intraday.