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Markets continue to maintain the positive trend with Sensex and Nifty hovering around 25,200 mark and 7,525 levels, respectively.
By 10:45, the Sensex was higher by 107 points at 25,169 mark and the Nifty has gained by 37 points at 7,530 levels.
The main gainers on the Sensex are Sun Pharma, TCS, Wipro, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Bajaj Auto, Infosys and HDFC Bank.
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Updated at 9:27
Markets have rebounded in trades today and have started the July series on a higher note.
By 9:25, the Sensex was higher by 119 points at 25,181 mark and the Nifty has gained by 37 points at 7,530 levels.
Markets ended 1% lower yesterday following the expiry of June F&O series dragged down by oil shares after the government deferred its decision on gas price hike by three months till December 31, 2014.
On the global front, Asian shares got off to a tentative start on Friday after a weak performance on Wall Street, and global bond yields dropped on creeping doubts on the strength of the US economic recovery.
Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.3% in early trade while South Korean shares fell 0.5%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat.
Thursday's data showing a milder-than-expected increase in US consumer spending in May fanned suspicions on the strength of the US economy following shockingly weak first quarter US GDP data.
US stocks slipped for the third time in four days on Thursday, 26 June 2014, after James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, suggested that higher interest rates may happen sooner than people thought. Bullard, speaking in an interview to a business channel, predicted the central bank's first interest-rate rise will happen in the first quarter of next year.
Back home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 601.89 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Traders carried forward higher bets to the July series on Thursday, expiration of the June series’ derivative contracts, signalling a bullish underlying mood on hopes of positive announcements from the Union Budget on July 10.
The Nifty futures rollover stood at 71.4 per cent, compared to the previous three-month average of 58 per cent. The market-wide rollovers were 84 per cent as against the previous three-month average of 80 per cent. High overall rollovers indicate the market is expecting more stock-specific action.
Meanwhile, a government statement quoted officials from the IMD saying rainfall is likely to improve substantially in July and August, though the monsoon has been delayed. While stating the monsoon was expected to improve after July 7, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told reporters the government was fully prepared to handle the situation in case of poor rainfall.
On the sectoral front, BSE Healthcare index has surged by over 1% followed by counters like Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, Realty, Power and IT, all gaining between 0.4-1%.However, auto and banking sectors are trading marginally in red.
The main gainers on the Sensex are Sun Phrama, Dr Reddy’s Labs, NTPC, ONGC,Coal India, Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto.
Ranbaxy Laboratories has surged 6% to Rs 503 on reports that the drug maker has received the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA)'s approval to sell a generic version of Novartis's hypertension medicine, Diovan.
On the losing side, Bharti Airtel, GAIL, Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and M&M have declined between 1-2%.
At least three persons were killed and seven injured following a blast in a gas pipeline belonging to GAIL in East Godavari district today.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up by nearly 1% each.
The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 992 shares advancing and 250 shares declining.
