Sensex Edges Higher In Choppy Trade, Nifty Holds 8,000

Sensex and Nifty edged higher in choppy trade on the back of buying in capital goods and pharma shares.

Meanwhile, the market sentiment was subdued after rupee fell to fresh 9-month low of 68.49 against the US dollar.

The rupee slipped to 68.46 against the US dollar today as the Indian currency continues to get hammered amid the greenback's rising strength and outflows from Indian stock markets. This is the lowest value of the rupee since February this year.

Foreign institutional investors continue to sell Indian shares and in Tuesday's session the FIIs sold shares worth Rs 692 crore.

Meanwhile, in today's session capital goods, pharma, metal and realty shares were witnessing buying interest at the same time select banking, oil & gas and auto shares were witnessing selling presure.

Larsen & Toubro was among the top Nifty gainers, up 3 per cent to Rs 1,370 after the company post market hours on Tuesday reported that its net profit during the recently concluded quarter rose 84 per cent which was better than analyst estimates.

CLSA in a note to its clients said Q2 delivered on order inflows and execution however Q2 margins were flat.

Shares of India's biggest drugmaker Sun Pharma also rose 1.76 per cent to Rs 702 after Sun Pharma announced execution of definitive agreements by its wholly owned subsidiary, for the acquisition of 85.1 per cent of JSC Biosintez, a Russian pharmaceutical company.

Hindalco, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Lupin, Eicher Motors and ONGC were also among the gainers.

On the other hand, HDFC, BPCL, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Maruti Suzuki, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI were among the losers.

The broader markets were witnessing buying interest as the BSE mid-cap index jumped 0.6 per cent and small-cap index rose 0.77 per cent.

As of 11:53 a.m., the Sensex traded 49 points higher at 26,009 and Nifty was up 14 points at 8,016.