Stock benchmarks made it four in a row as they closed higher today, fending off adverse political developments in Germany threatening to derail European markets.


Pharma stocks stood out following a string of USFDA clearances. "Positivity in global peers and buoyancy in the pharma sector following USFDA clearances helped extend yesterday's gains, but profit booking in the recent outperformers capped any further gains," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.


The Sensex opened higher and went further up, but settled at 33,478.35, a gain of 118.45 points, or 0.36 per cent, due to profit-booking in the last one hour of trade.


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