Markets firm up led by IT shares; Sensex tops 27,200

Markets extend gains led by IT majors and select pharma shares

Markets recovered from the day's lows and edged higher after the first hour of trade led by shares of IT exporters and select pharma majors.

At 10:48AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 92 points at 27,205 and the 50-share Nifty was up 34 points at 8,149.

Foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 9.5 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The rupee was trading higher at Rs 60.80 compared to its previous close of Rs 60.84 on expectation of continued foreign fund buying in shares and bonds.

Overseas investors bought index futures worth $106.22 million on Thursday, as per NSE data. Foreign banks bought debt worth of 18.93 billion rupees ($311.7 million), as per CCIL data.

Asian shares firmed on the back of encouraging reports on the initial public offering by Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba Group. Shares in Japan were trading higher as the yen weakened against the US dollar. The benchmark Nikkei was up 1.6% at 16,335. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.1% and Hang Seng was trading 0.4% higher while Straits Times was up 0.3%.

The BSE IT index was the top sectoral gainer up 2% followed by Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Oil and Gas indices.

Shares of Tata Group companies are trading higher by up to 9% in otherwise subdued market after global rating agency Moody's has upgraded the ratings for many group firms including Tata Motors, Tata Steels and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Alan Greene, a Moody's Vice President, Senior Credit Officer said the multiple rating actions are based on the track record of Tata Sons in providing timely support to its investee companies.

Tata Power Company gained nearly 2% after global ratings agency Moody's Investors Service upgraded the company's corporate family rating to Ba3/Stable from B1/Negative, and senior unsecured rating to Ba3/Stable from B2/Negative, thus no longer notching for subordination.

Sun Pharma extended gains and was up 1% after the drug maker said it has entered into a licensing agreement with Merck & Co Inc for investigational therapeutic antibody candidate, Tildrakizumab to be used for treatment of plaque psoriasis, a skin ailment.

Cipla was up 1.5% after it signed an agreement with American company Salix Pharmaceuticals, under which Cipla has granted Salix exclusive rights over certain patent applications in the 'Rifaximin Complexes' patents owned by Cipla. The grant is on a worldwide basis, excluding the countries of Asia (other than Japan) and Africa.

Among other shares, Suzlon Energy has locked in lower circuit of 10% at Rs 20.40 on BSE, with no buyers on the counter, after fresh shares allotted on conversion of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) of the company starts trading today.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap extended gains and were up nearly 1% each.

Market breadth was strong with 1,539 gainers and 859 losers on the BSE.