Sensex, Nifty near day's high; healthcare stocks advance

The domestic equity benchmarks were currently trading near the day's high in afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading above the 17,500 mark. Healthcare stocks were in demand. Rising COVID-19 cases in Europe kept investor's sentiment in check.

At 13:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 425.44 points or 0.73% to 58,766.43. The Nifty 50 index added 107.55 points or 0.62% to 17,522.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.17% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.52%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1935 shares rose and 1264 shares fell. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

A report issued by economists at HDFC Bank, which released on Wednesday, said: "India's GDP will show a 7.8% expansion on a year-on-year basis for the September 2021 quarter. Real GDP will grow 9.4% in FY22 and decelerate to 7.5% for FY23 as the base effects result in the higher growth in the ongoing fiscal wear-off."

In FY21, the GDP had contracted 7.3% due to the pandemic. For FY22, the RBI expects GDP to clock a growth of 9.5%, which will slow to 7.8% in FY23. The GDP had expanded by over 20% for the first quarter on the lower base. The official data for the second quarter is set to be released on 30 November 2021.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Healthcare index rose 1.13% to 8,662.80. The index declined 0.60% yesterday.

Torrent Pharmaceuticals (up 6.05%), Laurus Labs (up 4.35%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (up 2.62%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 2.10%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.58%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.34%), Alembic Pharmaceuticals (up 1.11%), Granules India (up 1.06%) and Divi's Laboratories (up 1.05%) advanced.

Concurrently, Ipca Laboratories (down 1.80%), Metropolis Healthcare (down 0.84%) and Pfizer (down 0.44%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Grasim Industries added 0.31% to Rs 1751.45. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) sold 1,33,50,869 equity shares or 2.028% stake of Grasim Industries from 24 September 2020 to 23 November 2021. Post transaction, LIC's stake in the company has declined to 9.830% from 11.858% held earlier.

Aurionpro Solutions rose 3.07% to Rs 213.30. The company has bagged an order in the smart transit segment from the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The project is expected to be worth more than Rs 60 crore, over five years, with the minimum guaranteed revenue.

Global Markets:

Most Asian stocks were trading higher on Thursday.

The Bank of Korea raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 1%, a move that was largely expected.

The prices Japanese companies charge each other for services rose 1.0% in October from a year earlier, their eighth straight month of gains and a sign inflationary pressure was building due to higher global commodity costs.

The services producer price index hit 105.4 in October, the highest since November 2001, Bank of Japan (BOJ) data showed on Thursday.

U.S. stocks pushed modestly higher on Wednesday as the recent jump in bond yields took a breather, allowing tech stocks to recover. The meetings from the latest Fed meeting, released on Wednesday, showed that the central bankers were ready to accelerate the timetable for slowing asset purchases and raising the benchmark funds rate if inflation remains high.

U.S. markets will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. The stock market closes early on Friday.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)