Sensex gains 300 points led by financials, pharma

Benchmark share indices continued to trade firm on shortcovering and value buying at lower levels withfinancials and pharma shares leading the gains. However, the latter half of the trading is likely to witness volatility as traders square off or roll-over their positions to the September F&O series.

At 11:45AM, the Sensex was up 304 points at 26,019 and the Nifty surged 98 points to 7,890.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 1.5% and the Small-cap index was up 1.9%. Market breadth continued to remain strong, with 1697 gainers and 571 losers on the BSEs.

RUPEE

The rupee stage a recovery tracking gains in domestic equities and dollar sales. The rupee was trading higher at 66.11 to the US dollar  Stock Market Trading Tips

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks continued to trade firm in late trades tracking sharp overnight gains on Wall Street after they surged 4% each on Wednesday. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite came off its early highs and was up 1% after the sharp slide in the previous five sessions, while Hong Kong has risen tracking gains in the mainland. The Hang Seng rose 1.7%, Nikkei is up over 1% and Straits Times was up nearly 2%.


SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Healthcare, Oil and Gas indices were the top gainers up 2% each followed by FMCG and IT indices. Power index was trading flat with negative bias.

Gains were led by mortage lender HDFC on value buying after the stock witnessed 19% correction in the past one month 

In the banking segment, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were up 0.1-1.7% each.

In the defensive segment pharma shares were among the top gainers with Lupin, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs were up 1.6-2.7% each. Recently, Lupin Shares of received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration for anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac Sodium.

Bharti Airtel was up nearly 2% after the telecom major signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% equity stake in Augere Wireless Broadband India (Augere), which holds 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in the telecom circles of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

ONGC was up 1.4%. Reports suggest that the state-owned oil explorer has submitted to oil regulator DGH a draft field development plan (FDP) for beginning oil and gas production from its KG-basin D5 block by 2018-19    Commodity Trading Tips

Tata Steel was up 1%. According to reports, the company is planning to mothball one of its plants in Wales in the UK to focus on manufacturing higher-value products, a move that could lead to job cuts of around 250 employees.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), a flagship company of the Mahindra Group, is planning to invest Rs 700 crore in its commercial vehicle business in the next two years.

Citi has downgraded Maruti Suzuki to "neutral" from "buy", sees downside risks to earnings driven by heady valuations, moderate domestic demand and dissipating forex tailwinds. Maruti shares were trading flat.

L&T was up 0.5%. The company's power transmission and distribution business has bagged orders worth Rs 864 crore from Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation ‘KAHRAMAA’.

Vendanta is the top Sensex gainer up 5.5%. The Anil Agarwal-owned company has decided to close down its one million tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district due to non-availability of bauxite ore and falling global metal prices   Intraday Trading Tips
 
Among other shares, Sterling Holiday Resorts was up 2% at Rs 235 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the Bombay Stock Exchange said that trading in the stock would be discontinued from August 31, 2015 following the merger of the comany with Thomas Cook India Ltd.

Radico Khaitan was up over 3% at Rs 93 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore PTE acquired shares in the company.