Sensex stays strong for 4th day, pharma in pink of health

Stock benchmarks made it four in a row as they closed higher today, fending off adverse political developments in Germany threatening to derail European markets.

Pharma stocks stood out following a string of USFDA clearances.

"Positivity in global peers and buoyancy in the pharma sector following USFDA clearances helped extend yesterdays gains, but profit booking in the recent outperformers capped any further gains," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

The Sensex opened higher and went further up, but settled at 33,478.35, a gain of 118.45 points, or 0.36 per cent, due to profit-booking in the last one hour of trade.

This is its highest closing since November 6, when it had closed at 33,731.19. The gauge had risen 599.46 points in the previous three sessions.

The 50-share NSE Nifty settled up 28.15 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 10,326.90 after shuttling between 10,358.70 and 10,315.05.

Positive leads from other Asian markets tracking overnight gains at Wall Street helped. Investors continued to focus on corporate earnings and prospects for tax cuts.

"Anticipations on further list of stressed assets should keep banking stocks in focus, in view of provisioning required," added James.

Persistent capital inflows by domestic institutional and retail investors kept the market in fine nick, analysts said.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) picked shares worth a net Rs 613.00 crore while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 358.74 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Dr Reddy's took the top spot among Sensex components, up 4.99 per cent, after the company today said it has received an establishment inspection report (EIR) from the US health regulator for Visakhapatnam facility.

Reliance Industries too caught buyers' fancy and gained 1.47 per cent. Other big movers included Sun Pharma, Cipla, Bharti Airtel and NTPC.

Logistics players were in focus after the sector received infrastructure status from the government that will help it access loans on easier terms. Allcargo Logistics jumped 1.36 per cent. However, VRL Logistics and Gati Ltd failed to maintain initial gains and ended in the red due to profit- booking.

Shares of Reliance Communications soared over 11.62 per cent amid reports that lenders of the debt-ridden firm have approved the sale of its real estate assets in Delhi and Chennai to a Canada-based company.

The consumer durables index was in the thick of things as it climbed 1.98 per cent, followed by healthcare, oil and gas and power.

Small-cap and mid-cap indices firmed up by 0.37 per cent and 0.10 per cent, respectively.