Sensex snaps 2-day losses, Nifty ends above 8750; pharma shines

3:30 pm Market Closing: Benchmark indices snapped two-day losing streak on Thursday, driven by healthcare, technology and auto stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 145.71 points at 28301.27 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 53.30 points to 8778. About 1814 shares advanced against 992 declining shares on the BSE.

Sun Pharma, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, GAIL, Aurobindo Pharma and Tata Motors (DVR) gained 2-4 percent while ITC, L&T, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Coal India, Bharti Infratel, Bosch and BPCL were under pressure.

3:20 pm Buzzing: Bharat Forge shares hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,072.80, up 5.35 percent intraday after signing agreement for joint venture company with Israel Aerospace Industries.

“Kalyani Strategic Systems (KSSL), the defence arm of Kalyani Group and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) signed a memorandum of understanding to incorporate a joint venture company in India, at the Aero-India exhibition in Bangalore,” the auto ancillary and defence company in its filing.

As part of the MOU, IAI and KSSL are aiming to expand their presence in Indian defence market and to build, market and manufacture specific air defence systems and ground to ground & ground to sea munitions.

3:05 pm Defence deal: Reliance Aerostructure (RAL)’s Joint Venture with Rafale fighter jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) has been incorporated.

Eric Trappier, Chairman of Dassault Aviation France, will be the Chairman, and Anil D Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Group, Co-Chairman of DRAL, it was announced at the ongoing Aero India 2017 air show at Yelahanka airbase here.

Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RInfra)-promoted RAL will have 51 percent shareholding in the JV and Dassault Aviation (DA) will hold 49 percent, the company said in a statement.

In September 2016, India and France signed a purchase agreement for supply of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a value of 7.87 billion, or about Rs 60,000 crore.

2:48 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices extended gains in last hour of trade, with the Sensex up 153.23 points at 28308.79 and the Nifty rising 51.20 points to 8775.90.

About 1769 shares advanced against 955 declining shares on the BSE.

2:40 pm USFDA inspection: Cadila Healthcare shares rallied 17 percent after the US health regulator completed inspection of Moraiya facility with no observation.

“The US Food & Drug Administration inspected company’s Moraiya facility from February 6, 2017 to February 15, 2017,” the company said.

At the end of the inspection, no observation (483) is issued, it added.

Also read – Sun Pharma up 3% as co may shift key products from Halol plant

2:26 pm StanChart on GDP: Indian growth story does not look rosy if we have to go by the estimates of analysts at Standard Chartered.

In conversation with CNBC-TV18, Anubhuti Sahay, Head-Economic Research pegs gross domestic product (GDP) at 7.2 percent for financial year 2018 versus 6.8 percent in 2017. This is while a majority of economists expect FY18 growth to be 7.5 percent or higher.

Sahay pointed out three concerns that she believes will slow growth; the effects of remonetisation lingering on in the initial part of the second quarter, global data suggesting Goods and services tax (GST) has proved detrimental to growth in the first year of implementation, and uncertainty on recovery in the investments cycle.

GST is likely to be rolled out in India on July 1.

2:00 pm Market Check

Benchmark indices maintained positive momentum in afternoon trade, with the Nifty holding 8750 level despite weakness in European stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 130.77 points at 28286.33 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 42.15 points to 8766.85. The BSE Midcap index gained 0.7 percent and Smallcap jumped over a percent.

Market breadth remained in favour of advances. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

SBI, TCS and Infosys were most active shares on bourses.

Bharat Forge, ABB India, MRPL, Indian Bank and Cadila Healthcare were biggest midcap gainer, up 3-4 percent while PNB Gilts, Indiabulls Ventures, ISGEC Heavy, SRS Real Infra and Rai Saheb Mills were top smallcap gainers, up 8-13 percent.

Markets in Europe were lower following record closes on Wall Street. France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and Britain’s FTSE were down 0.3 percent each.