Stocks traded with modest gains in afternoon trade. At 13:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 120.35 points or 0.31% at 38,805.07. The Nifty 50 index was up 43.35 points or 0.37% at 11,641.35.
Indices opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in early trade. Shares pared gains in morning trade. Barometers turned range bound in early afternoon trade.
Broader market outperform the Sensex. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.5%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.64%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1375 shares rose and 983 shares fell. A total of 164 shares were unchanged.
Tata Steel (up 2.19%), Vedanta (up 1.71%), Bajaj Finance (up 1.68%), Infosys (up 1.44%) and IndusInd Bank (up 1.22%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
State Bank of India (down 1.54%), Power Grid Corporation of India (down 1.33%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.02%), Tata Motors (down 0.9%) and HCL Technologies (down 0.66%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
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Cipla was up 3.2%. The company said that following the inspection by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) at the Goa manufacturing facility from 21 to 28 January 2019, the company has received the Establishment Inspection Report (EIR), indicating closure of the inspection. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 4 April 2019.
On the economic front, Fitch Ratings reportedly kept India's sovereign rating unchanged at the lowest investment grade of 'BBB-' with a stable outlook. India's ratings balance a strong medium-term growth outlook and relative external resilience stemming from strong foreign reserve buffers, against high public debt, a weak financial sector and some lagging structural factors, reports added citing Fitch report.
Overseas, most Asian shares rose on Friday as investors watched for more details about a potential trade deal between China and the US. The stock markets in China and Hong Kong are closed on Friday for a holiday.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said a new consensus has been reached between China and the US on the text of a trade agreement that they are negotiating, according to official state news website Xinhua.
US stocks closed mostly higher Thursday, as investors continued to monitor trade talks between the US and China.
On the data front, new applications for unemployment benefits fell to 202,000 in the week ended March 30, the lowest level since 1969, the government said.
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