The Sensex gained 79.39 points to end at 27,915.90 at the Bombay Stock Exchange while the Nifty ended flat at 8,615.25 on Thursday. The top three Sensex gainers were HDFC, Dr Reddy's and ICICI Bank. Apart from fast-moving consumer goods and healthcare, all other indices were red, reported The Hindu. Pharmaceutical companies and ITC Limited saw strong buying from investors, with stocks of Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and Dr Reddy's Laboratories seeing a surge.

In the morning trade, the Sensex had fallen by 110.74 points and National Stock Exchange Nifty declined 48.65 points. The drop in the markets came as Tata Group stocks continued to face selling pressure on the back of lower investor sentiment following the surprise removal of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons, according to NDTV.

Tata Motors DVR (a separate class of Tata Motors shares) was the worst performer on the Nifty, trading 3.7% lower at one point. Shares of Tata Power and Tata Steel also fell between 2% and 3.5%. The drop also came after the BSE and the NSE on Wednesday issued notices to a number of Tata companies seeking clarification of Mistry's claims that the conglomerate faced writedowns (reduction in the value of assets) worth $18 billion (approximately Rs 1.15 lakh crore).

Moreover, the BSE Capital Goods Index declined by nearly 1% as companies such as Laxmi Machine Works, Siemens and Larsen & Toubro underperformed. Shares of banking, automobile and information technology firms also traded lower.

Meanwhile, Asian markets also declined on the back of technology giant Apple reporting its first fall in annual profits in 15 years, according to Reuters. While Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by 1.2%, the China Enterprises Index lost 1.6% in trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 also declined 0.5%. Chief representative of Superfund Japan Hiroki Allen said investors were booking profits (selling shares to realise gains) in companies whose stock had risen in the last few days.