Equity indices trade higher, pharma stocks rally

Equity benchmark indices traded higher during early hours on Friday amid mixed cues from their Asian peers.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 136 points or 0.35 per cent at 39,115 while the Nifty 50 moved up by 56 points or 0.48 per cent at 11,576.

Except for Nifty FMCG, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty pharma gaining by 3.8 per cent, realty by 0.9 per cent and auto by 0.7 per cent.

Among stocks, Dr Reddy's Laboratories jumped by 4.6 per cent to Rs 5,051.20 per share after the company said it has settled its patent litigation with Celgene for the latter's cancer drug capsules.

Cipla ticked up by 5.4 per cent and Sun Pharma by 3 per cent while Oberoi Realty advanced by 2.4 per cent. Eicher Motors, Ad Ports, Tech Mahindra and Wirpo traded with a positive bias.

FMCG stocks fell with Hindustan Uniliver slipping by 1.4 per cent, Nestle India by 0.3 per cent and Britannia by 0.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were muted with most indices trading flat ahead of the weekend as markets consolidated after the much-awaited US Federal Reserve meeting.

Japan's Nikkei edged 0.1 per cent higher while stocks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul rose between 0.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )