Sensex adds 140 points on global cues; Nifty above 11,550

NEW DELHI: Domestic indices edged higher in Friday’s trade tracking Asian markets but gains were checked by worries over projections of double digit slump in the Indian economy and high unemployment levels in the US.

The weekly jobless claims report from the US Labor Department, the most timely data on the economy's health, showed nearly 30 million people were on unemployment benefits at the end of August, laying bare the continuing economic and human devastation from the coronavirus crisis.

At 10.00 am, BSE flagship Sensex was up 136 points or 0.35 per cent at 39,116 while NSE benchmark Nifty climbed 52 points or 0.45 per cent to 11,568. Pharma and auto stocks saw buying while some FMCG names were under pressure.

In the 30-share pack Sensex, Sun Pharma was the biggest gainer, up 3.11 per cent at Rs 528. It was followed by Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, M&M, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel that gained in the range of 1-2 per cent.

HUL was the biggest loser in the pack, down 1.35 per cent at Rs 2,099. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Auto, HDFCBank, HDFC and Nestle India were among other major losers, falling in the range of 0-1 per cent.

Broader market indices were faring better than their headline peers as Nifty Smallcap added 0.77 per cent while Nifty Midcap advanced 0.65 per cent. Broadest index on NSE, Nifty 500 was up 0.51 per cent.

Nifty Pharma was the biggest sectoral gainer on NSE, rising 3.94 per cent. It was followed by Nifty Media that gained 0.80 per cent and Nifty Auto that added 0.76 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty FMCG was the sole loser, down 0.47 per cent.

Globally, Asian stocks inched up, despite Wall Street declines, but struggled to make deeper gains as worries about a faltering economic recovery kept investors to the sidelines or seeking safer harbour in assets such as the Japanese yen.

Oil prices held hefty overnight gains after OPEC flagged a crackdown on member states that did not cut output and the dollar was back to nursing losses after a brief journey higher in the wake of Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan looked set to end the week 1 per cent ahead following two weeks of tech-led losses. It rose 0.2 per cent on the day while market moves around the region were small.

Japan's Nikkei edged 0.1 per cent higher. The ASX 200 was flat, while stocks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul rose between 0.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

US stock futures were soft, with S&P 500 futures down 0.2 per cent, though Nasdaq 100 futures turned positive by the middle of the Asia session to trade 0.07 per cent higher.