Sensex closes below 30,000, Nifty settles higher; Lupin top gainer

LIVE UPDATES

3.30 pm:

Sensex settles below 30k mark at 29,926.15, up 67.35 points. (0.23%)

Nifty closes at 9,314.05, 28.75 points higher (0.31%)

The day's gainer was Lupin, clocking 2.25 per cent.

3.15 pm:

Lupin leads the market gains, adding 2.30 per cent followed by Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel.

2.30 pm:

FIIs sold shares net worth Rs 363.98 crore last Friday as per the provisional figures issued by stock exchanges.

1.45 pm:

Realty, consumer durables, telecom, banks, auto, IT, teck and financials sectors saw bulk of the buying activity amid higher Asian cues.

Sentiments got a boost on global firmness as pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron's victory over anti-EU Marine Le Pen in France's presidential election as well as bullish US job data.

11.17 am:

BUZZING STOCKS

ICICI Bank is trading over 3 per cent, gained for the third session in a row. The private sector lender had reported a nearly three-fold jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 2,025 crore in the March 2017 quarter.

Ambuja Cements climbed over 8 per cent while ACC gained 6 per cent amind merger talks.

ACC and Ambuja had their board meetings on Friday, and they concluded with a decision to initiate the process for exploring the possibility of a merger.

A major laggard to the start of trading session was Avenue Supermarts, the parent of D-Mart, which shed over 3 per cent even after the company reported a 47.45 per cent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 96.66 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017.

State-owned Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) plans to open initial public offering today.

Hudco has fixed the price band at Rs 56-60 per equity share. The issue will close on May 11.

10.15 am:

Emmanuel Macron won the French Presidential elections on Sunday. The newly elected leader is a centerist who favors keeping France inside the European Union.

His victory is seen as a supporting factor for global equity markets that have had concerns over political protectionism among global super powers.

9.26 am:

Ambuja cements and ACC gain on merger talks.

9.20 am:

Sensex opened higher at 29,927.11, up 68.31 points (0.23%)

Nifty50 was trading at 9,304.85, up 19.55 points (0.21%)