Stock Market: Sensex Gains 264 Points, Nifty Trades Above 16,000; Pharma Stocks Lead

Stock update: Sun Pharma was the lead gainer, up 2.20 per cent. The other gainers were Dr Reddy, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Bank, Titan, HDFC, Nestle, Maruti, Reliance, and others on the BSE

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Thursday opened in the green in opening deals amid positive global cues.

At 10.15 am, the BSE Sensex was trading higher by 264 points at 53,778, while the broader NSE Nifty was at 16,046, up 80 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Sun Pharma was the lead gainer, up 2.20 per cent. The other gainers were Dr Reddy, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Bank, Titan, HDFC, Nestle, Maruti, Reliance, and others. On the flip side, NTPC was the main loser, down 0.71 per cent. The other laggards were Axis Bank, Tata Steel, TCS, SBI, and HUL.

The broader markets also opened in green. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were up to 0.11 per cent higher.

On NSE, 12 out of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.07 per cent and 1.21 per cent, respectively. Nifty FMCG and consumer durables were other notable gainers, up 0.5 per cent each. While Nifty PSB fell the most, IT pack was also weak.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,439 shares were advancing, while 902 were declining on the BSE.

In previous session on Wednesday, Sensex had declined 372 points (0.69 per cent) to close at 53,514, while Nifty had moved 92 points (0.57 per cent) lower to settle at 15,967.

Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a cautious start for the domestic indices.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 7 paise to 79.74 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday as a positive trend in domestic equities supported the local unit.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 79.72 against the American dollar, then went lower to trade at 79.74 against the greenback in early deals, registering a gain of 7 paise over the last close.

In the previous session, the rupee had closed at an all-time low of 79.81 against the greenback.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.57 per cent to $100.14 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,839.52 crore, according to exchange data.