Nifty ends above 8,650, pharma stocks surge

Market rallied during final one-and-half hour trade, lifted by heavy buying mainly in Pharma and Realty counters as the Nifty ended above the crucial 8,650, gaining 73.65 points.
The four-day break saw the indices trading in tight range bridled with slight bouts of profit-booking in banking, financial and metal shares ahead of the RBI's bi-monthly policy review meet tomorrow.
Later, the momentum gained on continued buying interest in pharma counters, due to sentiment lifted in this segment post SunPharma and Ranbaxy Laboratories merger.
The 50-share Nifty opened higher at 8,615.80 and traded between 8,667.50 and 8,573.75 before finishing the key 8,659.90, showing a rally of 73.65 points, or 0.86 per cent.

Shares of Midcap and Smallcap shares supported the gains rising nearly 2 per cent.
Indexwise, Pharma surged by 5.11 per cent, realty 6.72 per cent, FMCG 2.30 per cent, Infra 1.10 per cent, Auto 0.93 per cent and Energy 0.71 per cent.

Stockwise, SunPharma surged by 8.15 per cent, Dr Reddy 4.08 per cent, GAIL 3.92 per cent, Cairn 3.68 per cent, Cipla 3.67 per cent, Lupin 2.49 per cent and TechM 1.68 per cent.
Notable losers were PNB 2.17 per cent, Wipro 1.90 per cent, Tata Steel 1.71 per cent, Reliance 1.36 per cent and Indusind 1.11 per cent.

Turnover in the cash segment jumped to Rs 17,040.05 crore against Rs 15,965.66 crore last Wednesday, A total of 8,746.92 lakh shares changed hands in 70,91,701 trades. The market capitalisation at NSE stood at Rs 10,123,561 crore.
Elsewhere, Asian markets ended mixed, while European market closed for Easter holidays.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 209.87 crore last Wednesday as per provisional data.