Nifty hovers around 8,750; Sun Pharma up 3%

Benchmark share indices continued to consolidate in late morning trade led by Sun Pharma and index heavyweights ITC and Infosys.

At 11:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 113 points at 29,002 after hitting a fresh record high of 29,060.41 while the 50-share Nifty was up 24 points at 8,754 after touching a record high of 8,772.70.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 2,065 crore, as per the provisional stock exchange data.

Asian shares were trading firm on expectations that the European Central Bank at its meet later today would announce measures to boost the sagging economy in the euro zone. The Nikkei and Shanghai Composite were trading flat while Straits Times and Hang Seng were up 0.3-0.8% each.

BSE Healthcare index was the top gainer up 1.4% followed by Capital Goods, Realty, Metal and Auto indices among others.

Pharma shares were among the top gainers led by Sun Pharma up 3.4% while Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs were up nearly 1% each.

ITC which had ended over 5% lower on Wednesday amid weaker-than-expected show of the cigarette business rebounded today and was trading over 1% higher. Hindustan Unilever was also up 1%.

Sesa Sterlite trimmed early gains and was up 0.7%. The stock had gained in early trades on media reports that the company may soon restart mining operations in the state of Goa where it has a large stake in iron ore mines.

In the IT pack, Infosys gained 1.3% while Wipro was up nearly 1%.

Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T and ONGC were some of the other Sensex gainers.

Reliance Industries was down nearly 2%.  India’s largest private sector firm, Reliance Industries today announced that it has priced its dollar bonds worth $ 1 billion at 240 basis points over the 10-year US Treasury Note, to yield 4.249 per cent. The funds will  be utilized for its ongoing capital expenditure in India and its bonds were oversubscribed by 4.5 times.

Among other shares, Essar Ports rallied 8% to Rs 120 after a huge block deal of 5.67 million shares was executed on the counter on BSE. The stock opened at Rs 112 and touched a 52-week high of Rs 134 on BSE.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.3-0.4% each.

Market breadth was strong with 1,303 gainers and 1,102 losers on the BSE.