Sensex recovers 66 points in late morning trade

A bout of volatility was witnessed in markets as the benchmark Sensex was trading 66 points higher in late morning trade following buying in oil & gas, realty, consumer durables, energy, power and metal stocks, while IT showed weakness.

The BSE Mid-Cap index and the BSE Small-Cap index were also up 0.74 and 0.97 per cent, respectively. The 30-share index resumed higher at 27,753.96 and hovered between 27,883.31 and 27,736.51. It was quoted at 27,869.35 at 1100 hours, showing a gain of 66.11 points or 0.24 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also quoted up 11.15 points or 0.13 per cent at 8,552.35. Major gainers were SBI 1.45 per cent, HDFC 1.35 per cent, Maruti 1.17 per cent, GAIL 0.81 per cent and Asian Paints 0.62 per cent.

However, Dr Reddy's fell 2.78 per cent, Axis Bank 2.06 per cent, Bajaj Auto 0.73 per cent, HUL 0.66 per cent and Bharti Airtel 0.58 per cent. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth net Rs 437.78 crore on Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Overseas, Asian markets were trading mixed. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.20 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down. Shanghai index was trading higher by 0.24 per cent.