Sensex gains around 200 points; Nifty above 8,400

Lupin, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, SBI and Coal India are top Sensex gainers

Markets have made a smart recovery after witnessing some profit booking at higher levels. Gains are led by pharma and bank shares.

At 12:45 PM, the Sensex was up 183 points at 27,695 levels and the Nifty was up 53 points at 8,403. levels.

The top gainers from the Sensex pack are Lupin, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, SBI and Coal India.


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Updated at 12:20

After a robust start, markets have trimmed gains in the noon trades as the Monsoon Session of Rajya Sabha ended before lunch on Thursday without the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill, after opposition protests prevented the house from functioning every day of the three-week sitting.

 Meanwhile, the rupee reversed its gains to slip near the key 65 per dollar mark against the US dollar on the back of unexpected devaluation of yuan.

At 12:20 PM, the Sensex was up 62 points at 27,558 levels and the Nifty was up 20 points at 8,362 levels. Top 5 losers on the Sensex include Vedanta, Hindalco, Tata Steel,  GAIL and Wipro down between 1-3%.

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(updated at 12:20 PM)

Benchmark share indices continued to trade firm with pharma exporters leading the rally in late morning trade amid a weakening rupee while financials gained on hopes of a rate cut by the central bank in the wake of easing consumer price inflation and growth in industrial production.

At 11:50AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 154 points at 27,666 and the 50-share Nifty was up 47 points at 8,396.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.9% and the Small-cap index was up 0.4%. Market breadth was strong with 1,336 gainers and 1,069 losers on the BSE.

India's retail inflation eased to 3.78% in July from 5.40% in June and the growth in factory output accelerated to 3.8% in June from 2.7% in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the uncertainty over passage of the GST bill amid protests by the opposition in the parliament also weighed on investor sentiment. The monsoon session of the parliament ends today.

RUPEE

After hitting a year-low in the yesterday’s trade on the back of yuan depreciation, the rupee had bounced back in today’s trade tracking strength in the local equities. However, the rupee pared gains and was trading 20 paise lower at 64.97 to the US dollar.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Consumer Durables was the top gainer up 1.6% followed by Healthcare, Bankex, FMCG, Auto and Realty among others. Metal index was the sole loser down 1.1%.

Pharma exporters firmed up on expectations that export revenues would get a boost on the back of weakening rupee. Lupin and Cipla were up over 2.3% each. Sun Pharma was up nearly 1%.

Dr Reddy's Labs was up 0.7%. The company on Wednesday announced that it has launched Pramipexole dihydrochloride extended-release tablets of 0.375 mg, 0.75 mg, 3 mg, 4.5 mg, in the US market on Tuesday, following the approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) .

Telecom stocks were trading mixed after the government on Wednesday allowed spectrum sharing between telecom operators which could resolve issue of call drops and improve efficieny. Telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Idea cellular were up 1.2-2.5% each while Reliance Communications was down 4%.

Rate sensitive shares led by financials were among the top gainers on hopes that the central bank would ease rates on the back of encouraging economic data.
 
Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank and SBI were up 0.3-1.9% each.

Coal India's consolidated net profit fell 6.66% to Rs 3764.35 crore on 4.93% fall in total income to Rs 20965.20 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014. However, the stock is up 1%.

Metal shares were among the top losers amid fears that exports to China could be hurt after the devaluation of the yuan. Hindalco and Vedanta were down 3-4% each. Tata Steel eased nearly 4% on profit taking after recent gains post its robust first quarter numbers.

Among other shares, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone was trading higher by 4% to Rs 335 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on its inclusion in the benchmark Nifty scrips.

TVS Srichakra has rallied 8% to Rs 2,926 on the NSE after the company reported nearly three-fold year on year (Y-o-Y) jump in net profit at Rs 48.97 crore for the quarter ended June 2015 (Q1), on account of higher sales and lower interest cost. The tyre maker had recorded a profit of Rs 17.26 crore in the year ago quarter.

Nucleus Software Exports has moved higher by nearly 16% to Rs 296 on the BSE amid heavy volumes after the company partnered with Microsoft to deliver cloud-based lending solution globally.