Sensex, Nifty trade higher; pharma shares rally for 2nd day

The equity benchmark indices traded with significant gains in early afternoon trade despite escalation around US-Iran conflict. However, market participants will monitor inflation trajectory, movements in crude oil and gold prices and global cues for further direction. Nifty traded above 23,350 mark.

Pharma shares witnessed buying demand for two consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 518.59 points or 0.70% to 74,438.42. The Nifty 50 index rose 136.80 points or 0.59% to 23,377.30.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index fell 0.27% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index shed 0.26%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,794 shares rose and 2,164 shares fell. A total of 208 shares were unchanged.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for August 2026 settlement fell 14 cents or 0.15% to $91.31 a barrel.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 0.54% to 15.49. The Nifty 30 June 2026 futures were trading at 23,422, at a premium of 44.7 points as compared with the spot at 23,377.30.

The Nifty option chain for the 30 June 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 80.4 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price. A maximum put OI of 53.8 lakh contracts was seen at the 23,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index jumped 0.51% to 24,414.45. The index rose 1.1% in the straight two trading sessions.

Ajanta Pharma (up 2.01%), Torrent Pharmaceuticals (up 1.22%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.15%), J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (up 1.08%), Abbott India (up 1.03%), Cipla (up 0.87%), Ipca Laboratories (up 0.83%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 0.8%), Biocon (up 0.8%) and Alkem Laboratories (up 0.8%) surged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Marsons shed 0.53%. The company announced that it has received an order worth Rs 33.19 crore from Vikran Engineering for the supply of inverter-duty transformers for an NTPC Renewable Energy project.

Deccan Gold Mines declined 2.28%. The company said that it has entered into a definitive earn-in/option and shareholders agreement to acquire an initial 51% stake in Spain-based Logrosan Minera S.L. (LMSL) through an earn-in investment of EUR 1.76 million.

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