Nifty sheds early loss, regains 10,000 mark; Sensex up over 100 points

Mumbai: The benchmark Nifty index regained 10,000 mark for a brief time in afternoon trades. The broader index was trading higher at one point and was up 36 points to regain 10,000 mark.

Earlier, in the morning NSE Nifty was trading higher by 22.35 points, or 0.22 per cent, to quote at 9,986.90. It had breached the historic 10,000-mark for the first time in intra-day trade yesterday.

The benchmark BSE Sensex advanced about 50 points in early trade on July 26 on fresh buying by investors amid better-than-expected earnings.

Speculators covering up their short positions ahead of the July derivatives contract expiry tomorrow also supported the upward move.

The BSE 30-share barometer recovered by 49.58 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 32,277.85. The gauge had shed 17.60 points in the previous session after investors booked profits at record levels.

All sectoral indices led by metal, power, FMCG and auto were in the green, adding up to 1.19 per cent.Traders said buying by retail investors coupled with sustained foreign fund inflows and better-than-expected earnings by some more companies influenced sentiment.

Shares of two-wheeler market leader, Hero MotoCorp surged 0.28 per cent to Rs 3,717.20 after the company yesterday reported a 3.5 per cent increase in its profit after tax at Rs 914.04 crore for the first quarter ended June.

Other gainers were Tata Steel, M&M, ITC Ltd, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, Cipla, Lupin, Kotak Bank, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries, rising by up to 1.43 per cent.

In Asian trade, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.47 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.04 per cent in their early trade.

Shanghai Composite, however, shed 0.24 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 0.47 per cent yesterday as earnings season picked up pace.