The Indian equity benchmarks reversed early losses in noon deals led by gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Dr Reddy's Labs and HDFC. The Sensex rose as much as 686 points from the day's lowest level and Nifty 50 index was trading above 17,250 after hitting a low of 17,091 in morning deals ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts.
As of 11:41 am, the Sensex was up 134 points at 57,819 and Nifty 50 index advanced 40 points to 17,286.
Meanwhile, stocks were mixed Thursday in Asia following a retreat on Wall Street as crude oil prices rose sharply.
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Tokyo and Shanghai were lower while Hong Kong and Sydney edged higher. U.S. futures rose and U.S. benchmark crude oil fell back.
After a rally last week, markets have been up and down this week as investors weigh concerns about rising inflation and slower economic growth.
Russia was to reopen its stock market for limited trading on Thursday nearly one month after shares plunged and the exchange was shut down following the invasion of Ukraine.
Back home, selling pressure in banking and financial services shares capped upside for the benchmarks.
Ten of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Media index's over 6 per cent gain on the back of 20 per cent surge in Zee Entertainment's stock price. Nifty Metal, Pharma, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.8-1.2 per cent.
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On the other hand, Nifty Bank, Private Bank, Financial Services and Consumer Durable indices were trading lower.
Mid- and small-cap shares were outperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.6 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.4 per cent.
Among the individual shares, Zee Entertainment surged 20 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 307 after its largest shareholder Invesco Developing Markets Fund yesterday decided not to pursue an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to add six independent directors as Zee’s merger with Sony will achieve the fund’s aim of strengthening board oversight.
Dr Reddy's Labs was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3.6 per cent to Rs 4,277. Hindalco, Coal India, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, Cipla, JSW Steel, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, ONGC and Infosys were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, Kotak Mahindra Bank was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 3 per cent to Rs 1,719 on report that Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) was selling around 2.02 per cent stake in the bank. The floor price has been fixed between Rs 1,681-1,769.75.
HDFC Bank, Titan, ICICI Bank, Eicher Motors, Divi's Labs, Tata Consumer Products, Power Grid, HDFC and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,639 shares were advancing while 1,585 were declining on the BSE.
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