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After a brief dip in red in late morning trades, gains in ITC, Axis Bank and Sun Pharma helped the benchmark indices recover some of its lost ground.
At 1315 hrs, the Sensex was up 30 points at 23,849 and the Nifty inched up four points at 7,112.
Selling pressure eased in the broader markets. The midcap index was down 0.3% as compared to 1% cut see in the first half of the day.
The smallcap index was down nearly 0.5%, underperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 0.2%.
On the sectoral front, IT and Teck were the only indices in red, down 0.8% each and Capital Goods was flat with a negative bias.
Power index up nearly 2% was the top sectoral gainer.
Bajaj Auto, Wipro, ICICI Bank, TCS and Dr Reddys Lab down 1-2% were the major names in red among Sensex-30.
Coal India, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, L&T and Tata Motors down 0.5-0.7% were some of the other significant losers.
Among the ones in green were NTPC, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Sun Pharma, Gail India and Axis Bank up 2-4%.
The market breadth was negative on BSE. 1,586 stocks declined while 1,083 stocks advanced.
Smart Moves
Shakti Pumps India surged 15% to Rs 115 iafter reporting a stellar set of numbers after market hours on Wednesday.
J&K Bank has strengthened on the bourses after announcing a a dividend of 500% or Rs 50 per share. The stock is quoting at Rs 1,930, higher by Rs 42 or 2.2%, on the BSE.
Shares of Bank of India were down over 4% at Rs 261 after the state-owned bank reported decline in net profit because of higher operating expenses while asset quality concerns also weighed on the stock.
Oberoi Realty extended gains and were up 4.5% at Rs 224 after the Mumbai-based real estate developer recently said that it has raised Rs 750 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures.
Asian Markets
Asian shares recouped early losses on Thursday but held below the previous session's one-month highs, while expectations of credit easing by the European Central Bank knocked yields on U.S. and European bonds.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1% but did not retest the previous session's one-month high. Shares struggled to rise after Wall Street retreated overnight from record highs marked the day before.
Japan's Nikkei fell 0.8% as a stronger yen hurt sentiment, despite stronger than expected first-quarter economic growth.
