Amid a divergent trend among various index constituents, key benchmark indices moved in a narrow range near the flat line in mid-morning trade. At 11:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 21.72 points or 0.08% at 25,602.06. The 50-unit Nifty 50 index was currently up 4.85 points or 0.06% at 7,789.50. Meanwhile, the outcome of a monthly survey showed that growth in India's services sector accelerated last month. The Nikkei India Services PMI rose to a 10-month high of 53.6 in December 2015.
In overseas stock markets, Asian markets dropped as Beijing continued guiding the yuan lower and after the outcome of a monthly survey pointed to weakness in China's services sector. Yet, stocks in mainland China edged higher on media reports that China will keep in effect a ban on share sales by listed companies' major shareholders until new rules are promulgated. The Shanghai Composite index was currently up 1.11%. US stocks closed modestly higher yesterday, 5 January 2016.
Closer home, the broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,674 shares rose and 786 shares declined. A total of 112 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.5%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.63%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
Pharma stocks edged higher on a weak rupee. Cadila Healthcare (up 2.89%), Ipca Laboratories (up 1.33%), Wockhardt (up 1.21%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 0.78%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.96%), Cipla (up 1.36%), Divi's Laboratories (up 0.4%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.5%) gained. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.77%), GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.08%) and Lupin (down 0.09%) edged lower. A weak rupee will boost sales of pharma companies in rupee terms as pharma firms derive substantial revenue from exports.
IT stocks edged higher on a weak rupee. TCS (up 1.05%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.66%), HCL Technologies (up 0.12%), Wipro (up 0.04%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.07%) edged higher. Infosys (down 0.65%) edged lower. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.
In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was hovering at 66.715, compared with its close of 66.595 during the previous trading session.
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Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 2.23% at Rs 1,027.50 on reports that a foreign brokerage has maintained conviction buy on the stock. Commercial launch of broadband services from RIL's telecom unit Reliance Jio Infocomm last month could provide a big positive swing for the company going ahead, the brokerage reportedly said.
L&T rose 0.12% at Rs 1,258.85 after the company said that its construction division has secured orders worth Rs 2871 crore across various businesses. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,261 and a low of Rs 1,250.55 so far during the day. The announcement was made during market hours today, 6 January 2016.
Sanghvi Forging & Engineering surged 6.79% at Rs 65.25 after the company said it has secured new orders worth Rs 11 crore from oil & gas and power sectors. The majority of the orders received by the company are for its new heavy open die forging plant, Sanghvi Forging said in a statement. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 6 January 2016.
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