Sensex, Nifty Recover From Day's Lows; Pharma Stocks Lead Gains

The domestic equity markets traded off their day's lows in late morning deals and started trading in the green on Thursday. At 11:11 am, the S&P BSE Sensex traded at 37,877.79, up 25.79 points or 0.07 per cent and the broader Nifty50 was at 11,445.15, with a gain of 10.05 points or 0.09 per cent. Axis Bank (up 2.32 per cent), Sun Pharma (up 1.96 per cent), ICICI Bank (up 1.67 per cent), Infosys (up 1.37 per cent) and Coal India (up 1.24 per cent) were the top Sensex gainers. Vedanta (down 2.88 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 2.76 per cent), HDFC (down 1.41 per cent), Wipro (down 1.34 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (down 0.86 per cent) were the top Sensex losers.

Twenty-nine out of 50 Nifty stocks gained in trade.

In the sectoral landscape, the Nifty PSU Bank index was up 0.91 per cent and the Nifty Pharma index led the gains as it traded 1.06 per cent higher. The Nifty Bank index was down 0.27 per cent and Nifty Realty index traded 1.27 per cent lower.

Experts advised investors to not get carried away. "The market drive is still placed on the upside as the hiccups are temporary. Investors are advised not to get carried away. Keeping a close watch on global cues is advised and use each dip for the build-up," said Ritesh Ashar, Chief Strategy Officer, KIFS Trade Capital.

Earlier, the Sensex traded 129.63 points or lower at 37,722.37 and the Nifty50 was at 11,406.15, down 28.95 points.

In the forex market, the rupee touched a fresh low of 70.32 against the US dollar in early trade after the July trade deficit came in at a more than 5-year high of $18.02 billion.

Meanwhile, Asian shares hit fresh one-year lows in early trading, while oil and precious metal prices also tumbled as Turkey's currency crisis and fears of an economic slowdown in China fanned worries about global growth.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.0 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei and the Australian benchmark dropped 1.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

Wall Street's major indexes closed lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 down 0.8 per cent, its biggest percentage drop since late June, amid disappointing earnings and escalating global trade worries.

On Tuesday, foreign portfolio investors sold net equities of Rs. 378.84 crore and domestic institutional investors purchased net shares of Rs. 391.47 crore. The Sensex had ended at 37,852 and the Nifty at 11,435, in the last session. (With Reuters inputs)