Stocks at record highs, pharma, banking shares lead gains

The benchmark Sensex soared to all- time high of 34,374.85 before trading higher by 200 points in late morning session on sustained buying in pharma, bank and financials, IT and oil&gas stocks.
The broader Nifty of the NSE was trading above 10,600 points with 38 of its constituents led by Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Lupin, BPCL and L&T trading with gains.
The 30-share Sensex was trading higher by 201.57, or 0.59 per cent, at 34,355.42 at 1155hrs. The BSE barometer bettered its previous intra-day high of 34,188.85 hit on January 5.
The Nifty rose by 55.65, or 0.53 per cent, to 10,614.50. It had surged to new record high 10,622.40-level in morning trade.

Sustained FII inflows into Indian equities, firm Asian cues after fresh Wall Street record closing last Friday boosted investors sentiment.
Major gainers were SunPharma 2.91 per cent, Infy 1.48 per cent, ITC 1.41 per cent, YesBank 1.31 per cent and Dr Reddy 1.28 per cent.

Bharti Airtel, however, was the worst loser among both NIfty and Sensex scrips. The stock fell by 3.82 per cent on BSE.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net bought shares worth Rs 581.43 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also bought equities to the tune of Rs 243.13 crore, as per provisional data.
Asian markets were trading higher following firm US lead as investors awaited upcoming earnings releases. US stocks rose to record levels last Friday, even as Wall Street shook off jobs data that missed expectations.

-- Rupee pares early gains, still up by 4 paise --
The rupee retreated from its day's high to trade at 63.33 per dollar, up by 4 paise, at 1200 hrs on bouts of dollar selling by exporters and banks amid higher local equities.
The rupee opened higher at 63.33 per dollar from last Friday's closing level of 63.37 at the inter-bank foreign exchange market today.
The Indian unit gained further to 63.24 on good bouts of dollar selling from exporters. It was quoting at 63.33 at 1200 hrs.
The domestic hovered between 63.40 and 63.24 per dollar during morning trade.

The US dollar held steady above a recent 3-1/2 month low against a basket of major peers in early Asian trade, after data showing slower US jobs growth did little to dent expectations for further Federal Reserve interest rate increases this year.