The Sensex recouped from intraday low of 34,342 and was trading up by nearly 100 points. At 3.05 pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 93.22 points or 0.27 per cent at 34,596.71 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 28.5 points or 0.27 per cent at 10,679.70.

Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas index gained the most by 0.71 per cent, followed by banking 0.53 per cent, metal 0.52 per cent and capital goods 0.49 per cent. On the other hand, realty index fell 1.28 per cent, FMCG 0.44 per cent, power 0.35 per cent and healthcare 0.34 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were ICICI Bank (+2.67%), ONGC (+1.39%), HDFC (-1.33%), Maruti (-1.16%) and Reliance (-0.97%), while the major losers were Bharti Airtel (-0.86%), ITC (-0.8%), PowerGrid (-0.78%), Sun Pharma (-0.75%) and Wipro (-0.61%).

Intraday low

The S&P BSE Sensex fell to an intraday low of 34,342.16 and the Nifty50 dropped to 10,599 as four Supreme Court judges today came out heavily against the Chief Justice, Dipak Misra.

Justice J Chelameswar, the second senior most judge in the Supreme Court, said the administration of the apex court is “sometimes not in order” and many “less than desirable things” have taken place. In an unprecedented move, Justice Chelameswar and three other senior judges today held a press conference on various issues relating to the apex court judiciary.

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TCS shares fell over 1 per cent after the company had yesterday reported 3.6 per cent fall in net profit for the December quarter. Infosys was down 0.15 per cent ahead of Q3 earnings, to be announced after trading hours today.

Refiners advanced on the back of weaker oil prices. Reliance Industries gained 1.5 per cent, while Indian Oil Corp Ltd rose 0.8 per cent. Lenders also rose, with ICICI Bank up 1.2 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd gaining 0.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, IT stocks slipped, with the NSE IT index down for the first time in seven sessions. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd shed 1.4 per cent after posting its third straight dip in quarterly net profit.

Retail inflation

Domestic investors were also keeping an eye on retail inflation data. The country's retail inflation rate likely rose to a 17-month high in December, a Reuters poll showed, suggesting pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to tighten monetary policy.

“There is a little bit of hesitation seen ahead of key macro data coming later in the day. Apart from that, the earnings numbers did not have any major surprises, specifically any negative ones to breach the ongoing positive momentum,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“Whatever has come in till now, say, IT company results or private sector bank results such as South Indian Bank Ltd and IndusInd Bank Ltd, the numbers are largely in line with expectations.”

Corporate results eyed

Markets are waiting for more corporate results to flow in to see signs of recovery after the goods and services tax and the withdrawal of high-value bank notes, he added.

As per provisional data, domestic institutional investors had bought shares worth Rs 770.02 crore, while FIIs sold equities to the tune of Rs 623.63 crore yesterday.

Asian shares

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5 per cent, following two straight sessions of decline. Japan’s Nikkei dipped 0.1 per cent. China’s custom-cleared trade data showed brisk growth in exports and imports in 2017, underscoring a global economy that continues to hum along nicely.

Wall Street’s three major stock indexes hit record highs with earnings for S&P 500 companies expected to have increased by 11.8 per cent in the recently-ended quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of the world’s stock markets also hit a record high on Thursday, having risen in seven of the eight business days so far this year for a total increase of 3.3 per cent.

(With inputs from Agencies)