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Benchmark indices continue to trade on a firm note, after trimming some of the early gains led primarily by the gains in banks, pharmaceuticals, metals and capital goods stocks after US Federal Reserve signalled that it will wait for more reassuring cues from the economy before any hike in key rates.
"Just because we removed the word 'patient' from the statement doesn't mean we're going to be impatient," Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a press conference after Wednesday's statement.
At 12:45PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 191 points at 28,650 and the 50-share Nifty was down 29 points at 8,694.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index and Smallcap index up around 0.6% each have underperformed the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,400 advances against 1,114 declines.
The rupee strengthened to its highest level in two weeks on Thursday after a dovish statement by the US Federal Reserve. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan's statement yesterday also helped the currency market. Rajan said yesterday in New Delhi that the country is fully prepared to deal with the situation arising out of US Fed’s moves on interest rates.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 457.43 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Buzzing Stocks
All the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are trading in green. BSE Consumer Durables index up over 2% is the top gainer followed by BSE Healthcare index up around 2% and BSE Capital Goods and Metal indices up over 1% each.
Among capital goods stocks, L&T has gained around 1.7% and BHEL is up 0.3%. The construction arm of L&T has won orders worth rs 1,255 crore across various business segments in March, 2015 according to the company's disclosure to BSE.
ICICI Bank has gained 1.6%. The bank has sold its profit making Russian subsidiary ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company (IBEL) to Sovcombank -- marking its exit from Russia.
Pharma stocks are trading higher. Sun Pharma has gained around 3%, Cipla has gained over 1% and Dr Reddys Lab is up 0.7%.
Metal shares are gaining in today’s session. Tata Steel has gained close to 3% and Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite have gained over 1% each.
Wipro and TCS have gained over 1% each and Infosys is marginally high by 0.2%.
Among Oil & Gas shares, RIL is trading flat while ONGC has gained close to 1%.
