• Benchmark indices hold on to opening gains
• Nifty up 0.5% at 10,793
• Sensex up 0.4% at 36,630
• Nifty bank up 0.65% at 21,737
• Nifty Midcap Index up 1.2%
• Nifty Smallcap Index up 1.1%
• India Volatility Index down 1.1% to 25.07
• Nifty I.T. is the only sectoral laggard; down 1%
• Nifty Metal is the top sectoral gainer; up 2.8%
• Nifty Media, Nifty Auto up over 1% each
• Bharti Infratel is the top Nifty gainer; up 4.6%
• 44 out of the 50 Nifty constituents advance
• TCS is the top Nifty laggard; down 1.8%
• 1,149 stocks on the NSE trade with gains while 496 decline

The currency has opened flat today after ending Thursday's trading session on a similar note.

The rupee opened at 75.25 against the U.S. Dollar as compared to Thursday's close of 75.19.

The currency is unchanged on a weekly basis, trading similar to the closing level of July 10.

Yield on the 10-year Government bond opened unchanged at 5.813% as compared to Thursday's close of 5.814%.

Within the bond market today, traders will watch for the weekly debt auction of Rs 30,000 crore. The Reserve Bank of India will also be releasing its weekly forex data later today.

The drugmaker informed the exchanges of securing an approval from COFEPRIS to conduct clinical trials in Mexico with Pegylated Interferon alpha-2b to treat Covid-19.

The trialss will commence this month with dosing in patients, the company said in an exchange filing. Trials are already underway in India for the same.

Quoting recent studies, the company said that interferon alpha significantly reduces Covid-19 titers in vitro.

Shares gained as much as 2.1% to Rs 368.5, up for the third straight day.

The I.T. services company reported a 7.4% decline in its U.S. Dollar revenue on a sequential basis. Net profit too fell 7.3% compared to the previous quarter.

Ebit fell 5.7% while Ebit margins contracted 40 basis points to 20.5% from 20.9% in the previous quarter. Revenue was in-line with consensus estimates while net profit was ahead of analyst projections.

The company has re-introduced its guidance for the year, which it had suspended in the fourth quarter due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It expects revenue to grow between 1.5-2.5% sequentially for the next three quarters on a constant currency basis while it expects Operating Margins to range between 19.5-20.5% for FY21.

Shares fell to the day's low, falling as much as 2.8% in opening trade, staging a recovery post that. It now trades 1.9% higher at Rs 639.50, up for the third straight day.