 "Markets maintain bull run; Nifty opens above 8,300")
Markets maintained momentum after the first hour of trade with index heavyweight ITC leading the gains after the FMCG major was quoted as ex-bonus from today.
At 10:57am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 223 points at 27,222 and the Nifty50 was up 64 points at 8,352. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index was up 0.9% and the Smallcap index was up 0.7%. Market breadth was strong with 1427 gainers and 612 losers on the BSE.
ITC extended gains and was up nearly 4% on renewed buying interest after the stock was quoted ex-bonus (1:2) from today.
Auto major Maruti Suzuki was down over 1% after the passenger car major reported weak June sales numbers. Passenger car sales in June 2016 were lower by 16% at 72,551 units compared with 86630 units in June 2015.
Mahanagar Gas (MGL) has listed at Rs 540, a 28% premium against issue price of Rs 421 per share, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock hit high of Rs 549 and a low of Rs 532 in intra-day trade so far.
Among other shares, KPIT Technologies has slumped 12% on the BSE after the company said that it expects decline in revenues of around 4% in June quarter (Q1) with a consequent drop in profitability.
Strides Shasun has rallied 7% to Rs 1,205 on the BSE in intra-day trade after the company announced successful completion of the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspection of its oral dosage facility in Bangalore with 'Zero 483s'.
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(Updated at 9:30am)
Benchmark share indices opened higher, amid firm Asian cues and overnight gains on Wall Street, with ITC leading the gains and auto stocks in focus ahead of their June sales numbers.
At 9:30am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 159 points at 27,158 and the Nifty50 was up 48 points at 8,336.
Further, rollovers to the July series were 73.1%, the highest since March 2015 and compared to 69.6% in May.
Foreign investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 1,107 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
The production index for eight core industries grew 2.8% in May, against a robust 8.5% in April, pulled down by crude oil, refinery products, steel and cement, show data issued by the ministry of commerce and industry on Thursday.
STOCKS
Index heavweight ITC was up over 4% in opening trades after the stock was quoted ex-bonus (1:2) from today.
Dr Reddy's Labs was up nearly 3%. The company bought back nearly 5.08 million equity shares for Rs 1,569.41 crore as part of a ‘share buyback’ offer launched earlier this year. The company bought back shares at an average price of Rs 3,090.92 per share.
L&T gained nearly 1% higher. The company's IT arm L&T Infotech is planning to raise Rs 1,240 crore through initial public offer. BHEL was up 2%.
Among the index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys were up 0.5% each.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian markets extended gains on Friday as investors resumed buying in riskier assets after near term worries post the Brexit continue to ease. Meanwhile, Japanese currency yen eased after sharp gains recently. The Nikkei was up nearly 1% while Hang Seng gained nearly 2%. However, Straits Times and Shanghai Composite were trading with marginal gains.
US stocks gained momentum on Thursday to end over 1% higher recovering losses post the Brexit vote. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 1.3% at 17,930 and the S&P 500 gained 1.4% to close at 2,099 and the Nasdaq settled 1.3% higher at 4,843.
