The Indian equity benchmarks came off intraday highs in noon deals owing to some profit booking in FMCG, healthcare and pharma stocks. Earlier in the day, the Sensex rose as much as 513 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 17,428. Analysts say that markets came off intraday highs as traders were seen squaring off their positions ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts.
As of 12:44 pm, the Sensex was up 379 points at 58,453 and Nifty advanced 114 points at 17,388.
Meanwhile, most of the markets in Europe were trading higher. Britain's FTSE 100 index rose 0.2 per cent, France's CAC40 index advanced 0.3 per cent and Germany's DAX rose 1 per cent.
Asian shares rose on Thursday as the dollar wobbled ahead of U.S. non-farm payrolls data, and oil prices gained for a fourth day after deep production cuts pledged by OPEC+ members.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7 per cent, marking its third straight day of gains. It is up 4.5 per cent for the week after a staggering 13 per cent drop in September.
Back home, buying was visibe across the board as twelve of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index's 3 per cent gain. Media, Bank, Auto, IT and Realty indices also rose between 1-2 per cent.
On the other hand, select pharma, healthcare and FMCG shares were facing selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 1.5 per cent each.
Among the individual shares, Bharat Forge surged 9.2 per cent to Rs 773 on reports that the company clocked strong orders for US Class 8 trucks.
"US Class 8 truck orders witnessed a healthy recovery on an MoM basis, and comes as a big positive surprise given the muted economic growth environment in developed countries like the US. With a significant order backlog in this space (over six months waiting period), the revival in new truck order numbers bodes well for domestic forging companies serving this space," ICICI Securities said in a note.
JSW Steel was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4.3 per cent to Rs 671. Coal India, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, HCL Technologies, Infosys and Tata Motors also rose between 1.7-4 per cent.
On the flipside, Hindustan Unilever, Cipla, Divis Labs, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Britannia Industries, IndusInd Bank, Apollo Hospitals and Power Grid were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 2,387 shares were advancing while 978 were declining on the BSE.
