Indian benchmark indices end Thursday in the green

Sensex, which largely remained positive during business hours, closed nearly at its two-month high. On Nov 10, it had closed at 27,517.68.

The uncertainty over the pace of rate hike by the US Fed partly boosted market sentiments, media reported.

According to reports, the US Federal Reserve, in its December meeting indicated a less aggressive stance regarding interest rate hikes.

A higher US rate attracts investor attention and often ends in flight of capital from emerging economies.

Key Indian stocks that gained on Thursday were Adani Ports, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, ONGC, Power Grid, ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki. But TCS, HDFC Bank and Infosys were some of the key stocks that declined.

The Reserve Bank of India, on Thursday, issued a clarification regarding Specified Bank Notes (SBNs).

In its note, the apex bank said, "There had been various estimates on SBNs tendered in certain sections. We would like to clarify that the periodical SBN figures released by us were based on aggregation of accounting entries done at the large number of currency chests all over the country. Now that the Scheme has come to an end on December 30, 2016, these figures would need to be reconciled with the physical cash balances to eliminate accounting errors/ possible double counts etc."

RBI said that it has already initiated the reconciliation process and till this is completed any estimate may not indicate the actual numbers of the SBNs that have been returned.

It also said that it is taking all steps to complete the process expeditiously so as to release firm figures of SBNs received at an early date.

On Thursday, President Pranab Mukherjee delivered New Year Message to the Governors/Lt. Governors of the Indian states/UT through video conferencing from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The President said, "Demonetization, while immobilizing black money and fighting corruption, may lead to temporary slowdown of the economy."