Nifty Ends Above 11,250 Led By Gains In Pharma Shares

The S&P BSE Sensex gained for the third day in a row and Nifty 50 index advanced for fifth straight day, led by gains in pharma shares. The Sensex rose as much as 390 points at the day's highest level and Nifty 50 index briefly moved above its important psychological level of 11,300. However, some profit-booking at higher levels led to a partial correction in the benchmarks in last hour of trade, analysts said. Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the top movers in the Sensex.

The Sensex ended 141.51 points or 0.37 per cent higher at 38,182.08 and Nifty 50 index climbed 56.10 points or 0.50 per cent to close at 11,270.15.

All the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher, led by the Nifty Pharma index's over 5 per cent gain. The Nifty Realty, Financial Services, Bank, IT and Metal indexes also rose 0.6-2.8 per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes rose over a per cent each.

Cipla was top Nifty gainer; the stock rose as much as 12 per cent to hit new record high of Rs 814.50 after the drug maker reported strong financial results for the April-June period. The Mumbai-based drug maker Cipla on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 577.91 crore for the quarter ended June 30, marking an increase of 20.85 per cent compared to the corresponding period a year ago.

Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy's Labs, Shree Cements, UPL, JSW Steel and Bharti Infratel also rose 2.2-5 per cent each.

On the flip side, Eicher Motors, Asian Paints, BPCL, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, TCS and Axis Bank were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,747 shares ended higher, while 1,002 closed lower on the BSE.