Sensex jumps 422 pts; pharma shares advance

The domestic equity barometers continued to trade with moderate gains in the mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded above the 23,850 mark. Pharma shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rallied 421.53 points or 0.53% to 78,887.86. The Nifty 50 index jumped 136.40 points or 0.57% to 23,886.15.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.02% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.08%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,961 shares rose and 1,803 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tumbled 5.59% to 13.28.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 0.97% to 22,933.75. The index added 0.0.88% in two consecutive trading sessions.

Abbott India (up 2.6%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 2.52%), Ajanta Pharma (up 2.51%), Dr Reddys Laboratories (up 2.02%), Laurus Labs (up 1.62%), Lupin (up 1.26%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 1.24%), Cipla (up 1.12%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.96%) and Ipca Laboratories (up 0.92%) added.

On the other hand, Granules India (down 1.57%), Gland Pharma (down 1.01%) and J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (down 0.48%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight :

Dixon Technologies (India) fell 2.10%. The company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Dixon Electro Manufacturing, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cellecor Gadgets for the manufacturing of refrigerators and related components for Cellecor.

Jubilant FoodWorks rose 0.90%. The company has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Coca-Cola India for the purchase of a portfolio of sparkling beverage products and certain other products from The Coca-Cola Companys authorized bottlers. The marketing activities for these products will be undertaken in the usual/ordinary course.

Global Markets:

Markets in Asia traded in mixed fashion on Friday, as some markets returned from the Boxing Day holiday and investors assessed economic data from the region.

Chinas industrial profits extended declines to a fourth straight month, dropping 7.3% in November from a year earlier, signaling that Beijings stimulus measures have yet to meaningfully stem the slide in corporate earnings.

Investors assessed November inflation numbers from Tokyo, which saw its headline inflation rate come in at 3%, compared to 2.6% in October. Core inflation, which excludes costs of fresh food, rose to 2.4%. Tokyos inflation numbers are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Separately, Japans cabinet approved a historic budget of $732 billion for the fiscal year beginning in April, while restricting new bond issuance to its lowest level in 17 years, media reports stated. The approved budget is 2.6% larger than the current years budget. Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased earlier losses and squeezed out a small gain in thin trading Thursday after the markets strong back-to-back gains at the start of the holiday week.

The Dow closed the day 28.77 points, or 0.07%, higher to 43,325.80 after losing about 182 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 dipped 2.45 points, or 0.04%, to 6,037.59. The Nasdaq Composite also ended the day lower, falling less than 0.1% to 20,020.36.

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