Indices continued trading in a narrow range in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty 50 index traded just below the 11,300 mark. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 77.29 points or 0.2% at 37,908.27. The Nifty 50 index was up 39.95 points or 0.36% at 11,292.45.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.55%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.21%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was even. On the BSE, 1186 shares rose and 1087 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged.
Maruti Suzuki India was up 1.29% to Rs 5834.85. The company's net profit fell 27.3% to Rs 1435.50 crore on 14.1% decline in net sales to Rs 18735.20 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.
Punjab National Bank was up 3.71% to Rs 68.5. The bank reported a net profit of Rs 1018.63 crore over a net loss of 940.01 crore on a 0.59% rise in the total income to Rs 15,161.74 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018. The bank's provisions and contingencies slumped 64.86% to Rs 2023.31 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.
Pharma Stocks gained. Piramal Enterprises (up 2.49%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.9%), Divi's Laboratories (up 1.75%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.42%), Cadila Healthcare (up 1.15%), Wockhardt (up 0.67%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.34%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.29%), Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (up 0.19%), Lupin (up 0.18%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 0.07%) edged higher. Cipla (down 0.22%) traded marginally lower.
Biocon was up 1.55% to Rs 242.25 after consolidated net profit rose 72.35% to Rs 206.30 crore on 30.4% increase in net sales to Rs 1465.90 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018. The company's consolidated earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 51% to Rs 462 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018. The EBITDA margin grew to 31% in Q1 June 2019 from 26% in Q1 June 2018.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for September 2019 settlement was up 11 cents at $63.5 a barrel. The contract rose 21 cents or 0.33% to settle at $63.39 a barrel in the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 August 2019 settlement rose 0.63% at Rs 35,060.
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.542% at 14:23 IST compared with 6.514% at close in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was trading flat at 69.0450.
Overseas, European markets were trading higher. The European Central Bank laid the groundwork for further cuts to interest rates, announcing Thursday that it intends to leave official rates at present or lower levels, at least through the first half of 2020.
Asian markets closed on a negative note amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could be less aggressive than expected with monetary policy when it meets next week.
U.S. stocks finished lower Thursday, retreating from records for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, after a series of mostly disappointing earnings reports.
The Fed will gather on July 30-31 for policy meeting and the U.S. central bank is widely anticipated to cut benchmark rates by at least 25 basis points to combat headwinds from the China-U.S. trade dispute and signs of slowing economic growth outside of the U.S.
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