Key barometers trimmed gains after hitting fresh intraday high in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 146.15 points or 0.42% at 35,288.14. The Nifty 50 index was up 35.30 points or 0.33% at 10,611.60. Gains were boosted by firmness in IT shares.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1018 shares rose and 1294 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.
Most IT shares rose. Tech Mahindra (up 2.48%), HCL Technologies (up 2.43%), Infosys (up 1.54%), Wipro (up 0.95%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.88%), TCS (up 0.66%) and Hexaware Technologies (up 0.57%), edged higher. MindTree (down 0.87%), MphasiS (down 0.9%) and Persistent Systems (down 1.43%), edged lower.
Most pharmaceutical shares advanced. Divi's Laboratories (up 1.59%), Strides Shasun (up 1.46%), IPCA Laboratories (up 1.38%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.13%), Lupin (up 0.97%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.93%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 0.17%) and Cipla (up 0.12%), edged higher. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.12%), Piramal Enterprises (down 0.63%), Wockhardt (down 0.81%), Cadila Healthcare (down 0.84%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.87%), edged lower.
Alkem Laboratories rose 1.06% after the company said that USFDA has concluded inspection at its Taloja facility. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 14 November 2018. Alkem Laboratories said that USFDA had conducted an inspection at the company's Bioequivalence facility located at Taloja, Maharashtra from 8 November 2018 to 14 November 2018. At the end of the inspection, no Form 483 was issued.
Overseas, most Asian shares were trading higher after an improvement in market risk sentiment after British Prime Minister Theresa May said she had obtained enough support for her proposed Brexit deal to move forward. The uncertainty surrounding a deal had earlier weighed on risk sentiment.
US stocks closed lower Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average logging its longest losing streak in three months, as blue-chip Apple Inc. flirted with bear-market territory.
Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday expressed confidence in US economic strength and said that markets will have to get used to the idea that the central bank could raise rates at any time starting in 2019.
On the US data front, the Labor Department said the consumer-price index rose by 0.3%, while core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2%.
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