Markets at mid-day session: Nifty, Sensex trade firm after hitting fresh highs; Divi’s Labs top Nifty gainer

Indian equities after logging fresh highs in early trade post the US Fed’s status quo on policy rates traded firm in the mid-day trade. At the last count, the BSE Sensex was up by 0.29 per cent or 225.1 points at 76,831.67, while Nifty traded with gains of 0.32 per cent or 75 points at 23,398. Meanwhile broader markets continued to outperform their headline peers.

Within the Nifty 50 pack, Divi’s Labs, Shriram Finance, Titan, HDFC Life and L&T were the top gainers, while laggards included stocks like Eicher Motors, Tata Consumer Products, HUL, Britannia and Coal India.

Sectorally, FMCG, banking and media stocks traded in the red, while Realty and Consumer Durables led the list of gainers with gains of up to 2 per cent.

Overall the market sentiment remains buoyant as the country’s retail inflation for May measured by CPI came in lower than expected, both in core and non-core components. 

Despite this , it remains significantly above the RBI's target, making a rate cut in the next six months unlikely, said Sujan Hajra, Chief Economist & Executive Director, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.

Insurance stocks are in focus in Thursday’s session as the IRDAI has released the final norms on surrender value of life insurance policies which may impact the profitability of industry players.  Shares of HDFC Life Insurance traded higher and were the top Nifty gainers despite the ruling which is seen to impact it the most.

L&T Finance in early trade jumped up to 5 per cent to notch its fresh 52-week high amid block deal buzz.

Shares of Aurionpro gained up to 5 per cent after the RBI granted final nod to the company for operating as online payment aggregator.

Meanwhile, European markets traded lower, with German DAX and French CAC indices down up to 0.5 per cent.