The Sensex and the Nifty continued to trade in the red zone in the late morning session on Friday.
The Nifty had opened one point up at 8,735 while the Sensex opened 44 points up at 28,271 before slipping.
At about 11.30 am, the Sensex was down 28.31 points or 0.10 per cent at 28,198.30 while the NSE Nifty was down 9.80 points or 0.11 per cent at 8,724.45.
Shares of Reliance Communications rose as much as 19.8 per cent in their biggest percentage gain since May 2009. The stock was quoting at Rs 37.70, up 11.87 per cent on the NSE. The special 2G court’s decision to quash all charges against TA Krishnan of Maxis Group comes as big relief for the ongoing merger talks between Aircel and Reliance Communications.
Shares of Sun TV Network too surged to their 52-week of Rs 698.65 on the BSE and at about 11.30 am, the stock was quoting at Rs 679.95, up 23.21 per cent on the BSE.
Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today jumped nearly 7 per cent after the company reported an over two—fold jump in consolidated net profit for the December quarter. The stock was at Rs 954, up 5.07 per cent on the BSE at about 11.30 am.
Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma today advanced by nearly 7 per cent after the firm reported a whopping 84 per cent increase in its standalone net profit for the third quarter to December. The stock, which opened the day on a positive note, gained 6.35 per cent to Rs 1,009 on BSE. At NSE, it climbed 6.61 per cent to Rs 1,009.80.The drugmaker yesterday reported an 84.08 per cent increase in its standalone net profit at Rs 15.96 crore for the December quarter.
Shares of BSE made a stellar debut at the NSE today, surging nearly 35 per cent against the issue price of Rs 806. The stock listed on NSE at Rs 1,085, reflecting a huge jump of 34.61 per cent over the issue price. Later, it touched a high of Rs 1,200, up 48.88 per cent. It was quoting at Rs 1,112 at about 11.40 am.
Top gainers on the Sensex: Cipla (+3.4%), Adani Ports (1.65%), Coal India (0.87%), SBI (0.84%) and Sun Pharma (0.80%).
Top losers on the Sensex: ICICI Bank (-1.96%), Infosys (-1.23%), L&T (-0.92%), Tata Motors (-0.82%) and PowerGrid (-0.83%).
The BSE MidCap and the Small Cap were up nearly 0.80 per cent during the session.
Among the sectoral indices, consumer durables and capital goods were down 0.8 per cent. Telecom and health care indices were the top gainers.
Volatility was down 0.79 per cent with India Vix quoting at 13.4125.
A report by SMC Global said "Asian stocks are mixed as Japanese stocks climbed for the second time in three days, while shares slipped in Shanghai after a week-long holiday for Chinese markets. Investors all around the world await the outcome of a key U.S. monthly jobs report later in the day that will set the tone for the Federal Reserve's policy outlook. The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as stocks showed a lack of direction on Thursday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing mixed. With central banks from Japan to England and the U.S. signaling they’re in no rush to change policy direction as the world assesses the impact of America’s new leadership on global growth, investors continue to look for clues on economic strength. A report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector accelerated to the fastest rate in over two years in the month of January. The ISM said its purchase managers index rose to 56.0 in January from a revised 54.5 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the manufacturing sector. Economists had been expecting the index to inch up to 55.0 from the 54.7 originally reported for the previous month."