Nifty hovers around 8,650 ahead of F&O expiry

Asian Paints was the top gainer after the paints major posted robust first quarter earnings

Markets continued to consolidate ahead of the expiry of July derivative contracts later today.

At 11am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 115 points at 28,140 and the Nifty50 was up 32 points at 8,648. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up nearly 1% each.

Asian Paints hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,153 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the paints major posted robust first quarter earnings.

Maruti Suzuki was up 2% after the company reported record profits in the June quarter despite an appreciating yen on the back of 134% jump in other income.

Sun Pharma was up over 1% after the pharma major in a release today said  that is has entered into a license agreement with Almirall for Tildrakizumab in Europe for the treatment of Psoriasis.

Lupin was marginally up after the company said it has received tentative approval for generic Lexiva tablets, 700 mg from US FDA.

Among others, shares of companies in the logistics sector gathered momentum on hope that the government will be able to secure clearance for the goods and services tax (GST) bill that is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha next week.

Snowman Logistics, GATI, Allcargo Logistics, VRL Logistics, Patel Integrated, Transport Corporation of India Limited (TCIL) and Container Corporation (Concor) rallied 2.7% - 6% in intra-day deals. By comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 indices gained a modest 0.3% each.
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(Updated at 9:40am)
Markets opened firm on Thursday, shrugging off weak Asian cues, amid renewed buying interest post robust first quarter earnings from large corporates.

At 9:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 114 points at 28,138 and the Nifty50 was up 30 points at 8,645. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index was up 0.2% and Smallcap index gained 0.6%.

The US Federal Reserve at its two-policy which ended on Wednesday maintained status quo on key interest rates and stated that near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 405 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

STOCKS

Asian Paints was up over 7% after the company posted 19% growth in consolidated net profit for June quarter at Rs 553 crore compared with Rs 466 crore in the same quarter last year.

Maruti Suzuki was up over 1.5% after the company reported record profits in the June quarter despite an appreciating yen on the back of 134% jump in other income.

Among the index heavyweights ITC was up 1% while Reliance Industries rose 0.5%.

Among financials HDFC was up 0.4%. The mortgage lender posted a 37% rise in standalone net profit at Rs 1,871 crore for the April-June quarter of FY17 on steady rise in the business and part sale of stake in the general insurance venture. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were trading 0.5% higher.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets edged lower with profit booking seen in Japanese shares after gains in the yen weighed on market sentiment. Nikkei was down 1% while Shanghai Composite was trading flat with negative bias. Hang Seng eased 0.3% and Straits Times slipped 0.8%.

US stock indices ended mixed on Wednesday after gains in Apple failed to offset losses in McDonald's and Coca-Cola among others. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.01% at 18,472, the S&P 500 eased 0.12% at 2,167 and the Nasdaq closed 0.6% higher at 5,140.