Sensex, Nifty trade higher amid buying in pharma, banking stocks

MUMBAI: Domestic equity markets traded higher on Thursday despite elevated oil prices and geopolitical tensions, with benchmark indices rising up to 0.7 per cent amid buying in pharma and banking shares in early trade.

Sensex rose as much as 462 points or 0.61 per cent to touch an intraday high of 75,071 in morning trade, while Nifty traded around 170 points or 0.72 per cent higher at 23,581.

Sector-wise, buying interest was seen in pharma and healthcare, metals, chemicals, banking, energy, cement and FMCG stocks, with respective indices gaining over 1 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty IT emerged among the top laggards amid selling pressure in HCLTech, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tech Mahindra, which declined up to 1 per cent.

The volatility tracker India VIX rose more than 3 per cent to nearly 19.

A market expert said money is moving into markets such as the US, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, which are performing strongly.

“As long as the outperformance of these markets and the underperformance of India continue, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) will continue to sell, which, in turn, will further drag the rupee down,” the expert said.