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Markets have closed the trading session on a higher note after whole-sale price inflation which eased further during October boosted investor sentiment.
WPI-based inflation declined to 1.77% in October, down from 2.38% in September.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended higher 83 points at 28,023 and the 50-share Nifty gained 28 points at 8,385.
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Updated at 14:10
Markets edged higher in late noon trades after whole-sale price inflation which eased further during October boosted investor sentiment.
At 2:10PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 70 points at 28,011 and the 50-share Nifty was up 20 points at 8,378.
Meanwhile, the broader markets outperformed the benchmarks with both the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices up 0.7% each.
Foreign institutional investors remained buyers after net purchases on Thursday stood at Rs 681 crore, as per provisional stock exchange data.
WPI-based inflation declined to 1.77% in October, down from 2.38% in September. Earlier during the week, the retail inflation eased to 5.52% in October and industrial production grew at 2.5% in September.
The Indian rupee was trading lower at 61.62 against the US dollar compared to the previous close of Rs 61.54.
Nikkei has retreated from the seven-year high mark as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of GDP data and is currently trading flat with a negative bias. Earlier, the index had gained close to 0.7% amid election speculation and weakness in yen.
Chinese stocks are under pressure after the factory output data from China came below expectations. Shanghai Composite has declined around 0.5%. Meanwhile, Hang Seng is trading marginally high.
BSE Metal index was the top gainer up 2.7% followed by Realty, Auto, Capital Goods and Bankex among others. Healthcare index was the sole loser down 0.9%.
SBI was up 2.2% after it reported 30.5% growth in Q2 net profit at Rs 3,100 crore as compared to Rs 2,375 crore in the year-ago quarter. Among other banks, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were trading with marginal gains.
ONGC and Tata Motors were up 1-2% ahead of their second quarter earnings later today.
Sesa Sterlite was up 2.4% after the company said it would invest $782 million over a three-year period in southern Africa to tap the region’s large undeveloped deposits of the metal and offset a fall in production volume from its mine in Ireland.
Hindalco was up nearly 4% after revenues grew 36 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 8,554 crore and seven per cent sequentially. Before adjusting for the provisions for the coal block penalties, Hindalco's adjusted profit after tax during the quarter grew 43 per cent y-o-y to Rs 510 crore.
Cipla was down 2% after September quarter earnings at Rs after the company posted 16% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 299 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 compared with Rs 358 crore during the same period of last year. Meanwhile, analysts had estimated a net profit of around Rs 354 crore for the September quarter.
Sun Pharma was down 2% after the company disappointed on net profit due to lower other income. It reported net profit of Rs 1,572 crore, up 15 per cent y-o-y, slightly lower than street expectation of Rs 1,594 crore.
BHEL was down nearly 2% after profit fell 72.5% to Rs 125 crore from Rs 456 crore in the year-ago quarter. Net sales came in at Rs 6,027 crore compared to Rs 8,819 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2014.
Among other shares, GAIL has surged around 3% to Rs 490.40 on BSE after incorporating a new company, TAPI Pipeline Company in collaboration with state gas companies of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to build, own and operate the 1,800 km TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan-India) natural gas pipeline.
Market breadth was strong with 1,565 gainers and 1,303 losers on the BSE.
