Equity benchmarks edged higher led by gains in Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC.

The Nifty50 index rose to its lifetime high led by gains in shares of information technology and pharmaceutical companies.

At 2:31 PM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 34,556, up 123 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,662, up 30 points.

IndusInd Bank has reported profit at Rs936cr for Q3, up 25% on YoY basis. The bank’s net interest income increased 20% to Rs1,895cr. Stock slipped 2%.

Shares of TCS gained over 2% ahead of the announcement of Oct-Dec earnings. The Nifty IT index was up 1%.

Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which gained after Netherlands’ drug regulator cleared the company’s Halol unit.

Shares of Cochin Shipyard extended early session gains and rose nearly 7% after the government said the company will undertake ship repairing operations at the dry dock facility of the Mumbai Port Trust on lease basis.

The BSE Mid-cap and BSE Small-cap indices were up 0.31% and 0.76%, respectively.

Volatility index India VIX slipped 0.30%.

Infosys (+2.3%), Indiabulls HF (+2.2%), Tech Mahindra (+2%), Bharti Airtel (+1.6%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (+1.5%) were the top gainers on Nifty50.

Infratel (-1.5%), Cipla (-1.2%), Bajaj Fin (-1.2%), Ambuja (-0.98%) and ICICI Bank (-0.95%) were the top losers in today’s trade.

Out of 2,008 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,046 advanced, 646 declined and 316 remained unchanged today.

A total of 129 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while eight stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

source: indiainfoline.com