Nifty nears 8200, Sensex gains; L&T, ICICI, SBI lead

Moneycontrol Bureau11:45 am Buzzing: Lupin shares climbed nearly 2 percent intraday after receiving approval from the US health regulator for Nuvigil tablets that improves wakefulness. "US subsidiary Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc has received approval for its Armodafinil tablets 50 mg, 150 mg, 200 mg and 250 mg from the United States Food & Drug Administration," the pharma major said, adding it will commence promoting the product in US shortly. Armodafinil is the AB rated generic equivalents of Cephalon Inc's Nuvigil tablets. The drug is indicated to improve wakefulness in adult patients with excessive sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy or shift work disorder.11:30 am Macro economy outlook: A major challenge with demonetisation is the absence of a comparable template from another country where such a radical reform was passed, says Jahangir Aziz, Asia Economic Research at JP Morgan. In an interview with CNBC-TV18 he said everyone is waiting for uncertainties to clear with respect to the impact that demonetisation will have on the economy in the short and medium term. On the second quarter gross domestic products (GDP) growth number, due to be released later today, Aziz said that his estimate in slightly below the market consensus at 7.3 percent.Don't miss: Buy, sell, hold: 9 stocks you can watch out today

The market is gaining strength lead by banks, capital goods and pharma stocks. The Sensex is up 106.95 points or 0.4 percent at 26500.96 and the Nifty is up 40.70 points or 0.5 percent at 8182.85. About 1523 shares have advanced, 628 shares declined, and 140 shares are unchanged.

L&T, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Maruti and SBI are top gainers while GAIL, Relaince, Tata Steel, Coal India and NTPC are losers in the Sensex.

Gold rose as 'risk on' sentiment took a backseat, with investors booking profits in the dollar and bracing for the outcome of an OPEC meeting later in the day aimed at curbing crude output.

Oil markets were jittery ahead of an OPEC meeting later in the day, with members of the producer cartel trying to thrash out an output cut to curb oversupply that has seen prices more than halve since 2014.