Indian benchmark on Thursday got off to a positive start, thereafter, the indices traded in a tight range for the first half of trading session, but strong buying was witnessed in the second half of trading session helped by rally in the banking and FMCG stocks. Eventually, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, rallied by over half per cent to settle above the crucial level of 9,350, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, Sensex surged over two hundred points and closed above the psychological 30,100 mark.The European markets ended Thursday’s session with solid gains. Sentiment remained upbeat on the back of healthy corporate earnings, particularly the numbers from HSBC, Adidas and Royal Dutch Shell. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.96 per cent and the CAC 40 of France rose 1.35 per cent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.19 per cent.U.S. stocks closed mixed on Thursday.  The Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed with modest gains, while the Dow ended with modest losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 6 points to end at 20,951. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2 points to close at 6,075. The S&P 500 gained 1 point to close at 2,389.Asian markets edge lower on Friday. Japan’s markets are shut on account of public holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 212 points. China’s Shanghai Composite shed 20 points.At 8:09 am, SGX Nifty Index was trading lower by 34 points at 9353, indicating negative start for Indian indices.