Trade Nivesh Sensex opens in the green, Nifty above 11,550; pharma stocks gain

Among the sectors, the pharma index gained 2 percent followed by auto and banks. The midcap and smallcap indices added half a percent each.

The market opens: Sensex is up 162.45 points or 0.42 percent at 39142.30, and the Nifty gained 62.90 points or 0.55 percent at 11579. Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Sun Pharma, and Tata Steel are the top gainers while Essel Propack, Reliance Industries, and Lupin are the most active stocks.

Among the sectors, the pharma index gained 2 percent followed by auto and banks. The midcap and smallcap indices added half a percent each.

HDFC Bank in focus: Two US-based law firms announced the filing of a class-action lawsuit against the bank. Rosen & Schall Law Firms File Suits against Bank for false, misleading information. Both firms had announced a probe into claims against HDFC Bank leading to a lawsuit, CNBC-TV18 reported.

ICICIdirect on market outlook: Nifty opened with a lower gap on September 17 and remained highly volatile with a negative bias throughout the day. Sectorally, the action was seen in pharma and technology stocks while profit-taking was seen in auto, BFSI, and metal stocks. However, on the options, the front 11,500 Put has maximum OI. This should act as strong support on downsides. The major Put base is at 11,500 strikes with almost 31 lakh shares while the major Call base is at the 11,600 strikes with almost 29 lakh shares.

Bank Nifty future saw sideways trade but remained firm above 22,000 throughout the day. Most private and midcap banks witnessed supply from higher levels. From the options space, additions were seen in 23,000 and 23,500 strike Call, which is the resistance area, whereas support for the Bank Nifty is at 22,000.

Oil price update: Oil prices drifted lower on Friday, pausing after three days of gains, as producers prepared to resume operations in the Gulf of Mexico and data showed Saudi Arabian exports rose from record lows. Brent crude was down 6 cents at $43.24 a barrel by 0112 GMT, while US oil futures dropped 6 cents to $40.91 a barrel.

SGX Nifty: Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the index in India with a 3 points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 11,525 on the Singaporean Exchange

US Markets: US stocks fell on Thursday as technology-related shares slid for a second day and government data showed high levels of weekly jobless claims. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 130.4 points, or 0.47%, to 27,901.98, the S&P 500 lost 28.48 points, or 0.84%, to 3,357.01 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 140.19 points, or 1.27%, to 10,910.28.