Sensex advances 128 points on pharma booster dose

Mumbai: Market advanced for a second day as the BSE Sensex gained 128.27 points to 27,915.89, mainly led by pharmaceutical stocks after three Indian firms received nod to sell their generic versions of blockbuster Crestor drug in the American market.

Sentiment also remained buoyant as a good monsoon season so far lifted hopes of a revival in farm output as well as income and on optimism over the GST bill's passage.

Shares of Sun Pharma, Glenmark and Aurobindo were the star performers, rising by 1.89 percent, 2.39 percent and 5.09 percent, respectively. IPR Pharmaceuticals Inc's Crestor had posted annual sales of around USD 6.78 billion in the 12 months ended May 2016.

IT firm Wipro, however, fell 1.97 percent to Rs 538.60 after the company missed street expectations with over 6 percent fall in net profit for the first quarter ended June.

The market witnessed a shade of consolidation inspite of nervousness on overnight projection of IMF stating slight drop in India growth projections, as well as global economic uncertainty on Brexit fallout.

"Expectant of better earnings and GST bill's clearance, value buying continued at lower levels, and markets seems to have shrugged off IMF's downward growth revision," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

On the day, the Sensex opened slightly lower at 27,775.70 and moved between 27,935.18 and 27,759.71, before ending at 27,915.89, showing a rise of 128.27 points or 0.46 percent.

The NSE Nifty moved up by 37.30 points or 0.44 percent to close at 8,565.85.

"The market expects to maintain status quo in tomorrow?s ECBs interest rate decision and will keenly watch any cues on further stimulus plan," Nair said.

Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) purchased shares worth Rs 548.90 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Overseas, Asian shares ended mixed, while European stock opened higher as investors struck cautiously optimistic tone ahead of European Central Banks (ECB) meeting tomorrow.

Asian stocks ended on a mixed note. Singapore, Japan, Kopsi and Taiwan were down 0.29 percent, 0.25 percent, 0.07 percent and 0.30 percent, respectively, while, Hong Kong and China gained 0.97 percent and 0.90 percent.

European stocks were higher with France, Germany and the UK based indices up 1.11 percent, 1.40 percent and 0.27 percent, respectively.

In the domestic market, 19 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack finished higher.

Major gainers included Coal India (3.23 pc), Dr Reddy's (2.74 pc), GAIL (2.48 pc), Cipla (2.39 pc), Hero MotoCorp (1.58 pc), Lupin (1.37 pc), HUL (1.31 pc), TCS (1.29 pc), ONGC (1.20 pc), HDFC Bank (1.15 pc) and ITC (0.93 pc).

However, Wipro fell 1.97 percent followed by Axis Bank 0.98 percent, Tata Motors 0.87 percent, ICICI Bank 0.58 percent, Maruti 0.50 percent and Tata Steel 0.49 percent.

In broader markets, BSE Mid-Cap index and Small-Cap rose 0.90 percent and 0.99 percent, respectively.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty surged 2.41 percent followed by healthcare 2.38 percent, oil&gas 1.55 percent, power 1.50 percent, energy 1.33 percent, utilities 1.26 percent, PSU 1.25 percent and FMCG 0.76 percent.

However, consumer durables and telecom were mild losers by 0.24 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.

The market breadth turned green as 1,671 stocks rose while 1,026 declined and 177 ruled steady of the total 2,874 stocks.

Total turnover rose to Rs 3,196.09 crore from Rs 2,817.03 crore yesterday.