Mumbai, Nov 25 (IANS): Short covering, along with value buying and rupee appreciation, lifted the Indian equities markets on Friday.

The key Indian indices provisionally closed the day's trade in the green -- with gains of more than 1.5 per cent each, as healthy buying was witnessed in IT, healthcare and banking stocks.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 148.80 points or 1.87 per cent to 8,075.65 points.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 25,953.24 points, provisionally closed at 26,316.34 points (at 3.30 p.m.) -- up 456.17 points or 1.76 per cent from the previous close at 25,860.17 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,343.95 points and a low of 25,874.45 points during the intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was skewed in favour of the bulls -- with 2,030 advances and 595 declines.

On Thursday, the equity markets closed in the red on the back of a massive rupee depreciation, continued outflow of foreign funds and subdued derivatives expiry roll-overs 

The barometer index was down by 191.64 points or 0.74 per cent, while the NSE Nifty receded by 67.80 points or 0.84 per cent.