Mumbai, Oct 27 (IANS): Short covering, along with a recovery in the rupee's value, aided the India equity markets pare their losses and provisionally close in the positive territory on Thursday.

The recovery was triggered during the last hour of the trading session. Earlier, negative global cues, lower crude oil prices and disappointing quarterly earning results dragged the key indices lower.

Besides, the decline in Tata Group's subsidiaries' stock prices a day after ousted Chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus P. Mistry alleged corporate misconduct dented investors' sentiments.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,808.63 points, provisionally closed at 27,915.90 points (3.30 p.m.) -- up 79.39 points or 0.29 per cent from the previous close at 27,836.51 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,958.13 points and a low of 27,665.60 points during the intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was skewed in favour of the bears -- with 1,629 declines and 987 advances.

However, the wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) remained unchanged at 8,615.25 points.