The market, which gave up a significant portion of its gains around mid afternoon, has edged up a bit now, regaining some lost ground, and looks heaed for a firm close today. Though Asian markets ended mostly higher, major European markets are slightly weak on profit taking. The Sensex is up 155.99 points or 0.55% at 28,568.88. The Nifty50 is up 27.65 points or 0.32% at 8770.20. ITC is up 2.7%, topping the list of Sensex gainers. Reliance Industries is trading 2% up. Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, ONGC, Power Grid Corporation, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank and GAIL India are up 1.5% - 2%. Cipla, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro are also trading higher. Eicher Motors, up 3%, is the top gainer in the Nifty index. Grasim Industries is up 2%. Bosch, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Aurobindo Pharma and Kotak Bank are also trading firm. Meanwhile, Yes Bank is down nearly 4%. BHEL, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Idea Cellular are lower by 1% - 2%. Hinduja Foundries, which plunged 20% on Thursday, is down more than 18% now, extending its losses. The stocks is getting battered after the boards of Ashok Leyland and HFL approved the merger of the two companies.
