Key benchmarks further pared gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 160.38 points or 0.46% at 35,322.86. The Nifty 50 index was up 24.85 points or 0.23% at 10,609.60.
Broader market slipped into negative terrain after opening higher. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.66%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.52%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On BSE, 946 shares rose and 1293 shares fell. A total of 106 shares were unchanged.
IT shares were mixed. HCL Technologies (up 2.29%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.58%), Persistent Systems (up 0.36%), TCS (up 0.14%) and Wipro (up 0.11%), edged higher. Hexaware Technologies (down 0.03%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.25%), MphasiS (down 0.8%) and MindTree (down 1.49%), edged lower.
Shares of Infosys were up 1.88%. IT major Infosys announced its consolidated results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) after market hours yesterday, 16 October 2018. On a consolidated basis, Infosys' net profit rose 13.8% to Rs 4110 crore on 7.7% increase in revenues to Rs 20609 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q1 June 2018. FY2019 revenue guidance in constant currency was retained at 6%-8% and operating margin guidance was retained at 22%-24%.
Most pharmaceutical shares declined. Piramal Enterprises (down 4.5%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 1.52%), IPCA Laboratories (down 1.44%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.98%), Divi's Laboratories (down 0.69%), Cadila Healthcare (down 0.59%), Wockhardt (down 0.55%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.2%), Lupin (down 0.06%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.03%), edged lower. Cipla (up 0.04%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.10%), Strides Shasun (up 0.13%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.51%), edged lower.
Overseas, Asian shares rose across the board on Wednesday following a strong bounce on Wall Street overnight. In US, the major indices saw their best day since March, with stocks rising on the back of upbeat earnings and robust economic data.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump continued his criticism of the Federal Reserve, calling it his biggest threat as it was raising rates too fast. Trump had previously said the Fed has "gone crazy" and attributed last week's plunge on Wall Street to the US central bank.
On the data front, US industrial production rose 0.3% in September, according to the Federal Reserve. The number of job openings in the US reached another all-time high of 7.1 million in August, according a report released Tuesday morning by the Labor Department. The same report showed that American workers were voluntarily quitting their jobs at a rate of 2.4% in August, matching the July reading, which was the highest since 2001.
The National Association of Home Builders Confidence Index ticked up one point to 68 in October, though it remains down from a cycle high of 74, reached in December 2017.
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