Nifty crosses 7,650 mark; Cipla, GAIL top gainers

Benchmark indices continue to trade in a tight range with positive bias led by metal, capital goods and oil shares.

By 10:30, the Sensex has gained by 62 points at 25,583 mark and the Nifty gained by 22 points at 7,654 levels.

On the global front, the dollar held firm with higher Treasury yields on Wednesday after a surprisingly high reading for U.S. inflation threatened to give a hawkish tilt to the Federal Reserve's policy outlook later in the session.

The risk was enough to keep Asian share markets on the defensive with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off 0.16 percent.

Japan's Nikkei was the only real mover adding 0.42 percent as a softer yen helped offset disappointing trade numbers.

Back home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 48.02 crore on Tuesday, 17 June 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The rupee today fell by 29 paise to 60.32 against the US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to appreciation of the American currency against other rivals overseas.

Meanwhile, brent crude prices remained steady above $113 per barrel as fears of oil supply disruptions from Iraq offset the possibility of increased supply due to a thawing of relations between Iran and the West.

On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, Metal Realty, Power, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices have gained by 1% each. However, BSE IT and FMCG indices have declined marginally.

The main gainers on the Sensex are Cipla, GAIL, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco, L&T, Dr Reddy’s and Tata Power.

Cipla has gained over 6% on NSE after the pharmaceutical company said it has acquired 60% stake in a new company in Sri Lanka for $14 million (nearly Rs 85 crore) to market its product in the country.

On the losing side, TCS, ITC, ICICI Bank, Wipro and HDFC have declined by 1% each.

Among other shares, Ricoh India is frozen lower circuit for second day in a row, down 20% at Rs 138 on BSE, after the company said its delisting offer has failed.

Shares in Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) have surged 7% to Rs 34, extending its previous day's 8 rally, on reports that the government will initiate steps to revive ailing state-owned telecom company.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained by 1% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,532 shares advancing and 684 shares declining.