Sensex Edges Higher; Dr Reddy's Lab Surges Nearly 7%

Indian equity indices edged higher on Friday tracking positive global markets. However, gains were capped as June quarter GDP data announced on Thursday disappointed investors. Sensex rose over 50 points to 31,801 while the Nifty50 index added nearly 20 points. GDP or gross domestic product growth fell to a three-year low of 5.7 per cent in the April-June quarter compared to 7.9 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that the economy would grow at 6.6 per cent in the June quarter. Analysts attributed the fall in GDP to destocking ahead of the rollout of GST and a lingering effect of notes ban on consumption.

As of 9.30 am, Sensex was up 58 points at 31,788.38 and the Nifty traded 16 points higher at 9,934. Dr Reddy's Lab was the top gainer in Nifty, up 6.8 per cent at Rs 2,157.70. Shares of the drug maker surged on reports of settlement for a drug. Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and Lupin also gained between 1.3-1.8 per cent boosting the pharma sub-index of NSE 1.85 per cent higher.

Gail India, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Ambuja Cements, Tata Steel were the other prominent gainers in the Nifty.

Meanwhile, TCS was the top loser in Nifty, down 1.56 per cent followed by HDFC, Hindustan Unilever and Wipro, which fell between 0.5-1 per cent each.

Elsewhere, other Asian shares traded higher tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Shanghai Composite was up 0.57 per cent, Hang Seng rose 0.36 per cent while Nikkei was flat. Overnight, Dow Jones index closed 0.25 per cent higher while S&P and Nasdaq settled 0.57 per cent and 0.95 per cent higher respectively.