Stock markets rally further following a strong previous session

The key equity barometers traded with modest gains in morning trades. Nifty moved in a range of 23434-23315. Nifty Pharma, Nifty Healthcare Index and Nifty FMCG shares advanced, while Nifty IT and Nifty PSU Bank shares retreated.

NIFTY inched higher by 0.33% in last session and tumbled 3.35% over last one-week.

At 12:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, posted modest gains of 512.29 points or 0.69% to 74,807.25. The Nifty 50 index inched up 69.15 points or 0.30% to 23,415.55.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index moved higher by 0.04% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index edged higher by 0.14%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2564 shares gained and 2399 shares declined. A total of 270 shares were unchanged.

Nifty Pharma index rose 1.37% to 27077. The index has inched higher by 1.32% in last one month and soared 18.32% over last one year. Mankind Pharma, moving higher 5.54%, led the gainers followed by Wockhardt, inching higher 4.90% and Torrent Pharma., edging up 3.30%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 15 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Healthcare Index index advanced 1.22% to 16817. The index has edged up 0.91% in last one month and climbed 11.84% over last one year. Mankind Pharma, rising 5.54%, led the gainers followed by Torrent Pharma., gaining 3.30% and Glenmark Pharma., adding 3.24%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 14 are reporting gains today.

Nifty IT index edged lower by 0.37%. The index has eased by 4.50% in last one month and tumbled 21.48% over last one year. Oracle Fin.Serv., losing 4.80%, led the losers followed by Infosys, slipping 1.20% and Wipro, edging lower 1.08%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 6 are reporting loss today.

Asian markets jumped on Monday. China’s Shanghai composite is ahead by 0.94%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is higher by 0.92%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is substantially higher by 1.38%.

In Europe, German DAX ticked up 0.71%, UK’s FTSE 100 posted modest losses of 0.27% and French CAC edged lower 0.93%.

In Commodities, MCX Gold eased 0.58% to trade at Rs 1,54,380 per 10 grams. MCX Crude oil recorded sharp losses of 2.34% to trade at Rs 9,646 per barrel.