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Markets came off their day's highs after the first hour of trade as investors booked profits at higher levels. However, IT majors continued to trade firm after a large order win by Infosys.
At 10:40AM, the 30-share was up 28 points at 27,114 after hitting an intra-day high of 27,179 and the 50-share Nifty was up 9 points at 8,105 after touching a high of 8,123.
The rupee is trading at 60.39 compared to its previous close of 60.36. However, gains in the domestic share market may, however, limit a sharp fall in the rupee.
In the Sensex pack, Infosys was up 1%, after rising nearly 2% in early trades, following the order win from BP. Wipro and TCS were up 0.7-1% each.
L&T was up 1.2% following an order worth Rs 5100 Crore Supercritical Power Plant Order from MP State Utility.
Oil stocks firmed up with GAIL, Reliance Industries and ONGC were up 0.5-2% each.
Among other shares, JP Associates has extended losses for the second consecutive day and has dipped by over 10% at Rs 33.75 after Jaypee Infra Ventures sold over 13 million shares on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday. The stock has dropped nearly 30% in the last two sessions.
Union Bank of India has gained nearly 2% to Rs 215 after the company plans to raise Rs 1,386 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) this financial year, its chairman and managing director Arun Tiwari said.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.7% and the Small-cap index was up 1%.
The market breadth continued to remain strong with 1,473 gainers and 802 losers on the BSE.
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(Updated at 9:35AM)
Markets continued to trade higher with the Nifty trading above 8,100 led by IT shares after a huge order win by Infosys.
9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 69 points at 27,155 and 50-share Nifty was up 20 points at 8,116.
Meanwhile, foreign investors continued to remain buyers having bought stocks worth Rs 1,698 crore, as per provisional stock exchange data.
On the global front, Asian shares trimmed early gains. Japan's Nikkei and Shanghai Composite were trading 0.3% higher. However, Hang seng was down 0.4% and Singapore's Straits Times was trading lower by 0.5%.
US stocks ended lower on Thursday as profit taking in oil shares pared intra-day gains after the European Central Bank lowered its key policy rate. Further, US initial jobless claims rose to 302,000 last week, data showed.
The Dow Jones ended down 0.05% at 17,069.58, the broader S&P 500 closed 0.15% down at 1,997.65 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended down 0.22% at 4,562.29.
Among the Sensex gainers, Infosys was up 1.5% after it signed a five-year group-wide IT outsourcing services contract with BP (formerly British Petroleum).
The Indian rupee was trading lower at Rs 60.43 compared to the previous close of Rs 60.36. On Thursday, the rupee had closed at one-month high of 60.36 paise, up 13 paise against the dollar on sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and some banks amid heavy capital inflows.
Infosys was up 2% at Rs 3790 on the BSE in the early morning trades after the company signed a five-year group-wide IT outsourcing services contract with BP (formerly British Petroleum). TCS and Wipro were up over 1.1% each.
Larsen & Toubro was up 1.7% after the engineering major won a Rs 5100 Crore Supercritical Power Plant Order from MP State Utility, 1320 MW Plant to be executed on EPC Basis Under Stringent Schedule
In the banking pack, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were up 0.5-0.8% each.
Other Sensex gainers include, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Hindalco and Cipla among others.
HDFC was the top Sensex loser down 1.3% while ITC, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and Tata Power were down on profit taking.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up over 0.7% each.
Market breadth was strong with 1,511 gainers and 413 losers on the BSE.
