Sensex Adds Over 150 Pts, Smallcaps Shine

The domestic equity markets were trading firm with positive bias as buying was seen in all counters except for the pharma. The Sensex gained as much as 150 points and Nifty touched nearly 16,330 in the opening trade on Thursday, August 12.

At 10:07 AM, the BSE Sensex was up 168.79 points at 54,694.72, and the key index Nifty-50 was up 47.80 points at 16,330.05. The Midcaps and Smallcaps saw some buying interest in the morning trade after BSE issued a clarification on the circular passed earlier this week. The BSE Smallcap index gained over a per cent in the opening trade.

Shares of Power Grid surged the most in the 30-share pack Sensex after the company posted a three-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 5,998 crore for the quarter ended June 30. The stock gained over two per cent in the morning trade, while those of Tech Mahindra and M&M advanced over a per cent each.

Among the sectors, barring pharma, all other sectors mostly traded positive on Thursday morning. In the pharma index, shares of Lupin dragged the most as the stock dipped over five per cent, while Cadila Health and others declined nearly a per cent each.

As the earnings session moves further, companies like Tata Steel, Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Aurobindo Pharma, BPCL, Oil India, Ashok Leyland, Bharat Forge, Ansal Properties & Infrastructure, and Apollo Micro Systems are scheduled to announce their quarter results later today.

The overall market breadth supported the bulls as nearly 1427 shares advanced and 299 shares declined in the NSE at the time of filing.