Sensex holds early gains; govt clears mineral exploration policy

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: The Sensex advanced 123.82 points at 26648.37, and the Nifty rose 45.10 points to 8172.95.About three shares gained for every share falling on the Bombay Stock Exchange.12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher as global market volatility caused by the Brexit vote eases.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 1.05 percent. London's FTSE index was up 1.5 percent.

European markets continued to rally despite uncertainty over the UK and European Union's future relationship after a majority of the British public voted last Thursday to leave the bloc.12:20 pm Suven Life in news: Drug firm Suven Life Sciences has been granted a patent from Europe and two product patents from Eurasia for a drug used in the treatment of neuro-degenerative diseases.

In a BSE filing today, Suven Life said it has been granted "one product patent from Europe and two product patents from Eurasia corresponding to New Chemical Entities (NCEs) for treatment of disorders associated with neuro-degenerative diseases".

The patents are valid through 2029, 2030 and 2031, respectively, the company added.

Suven Life CEO Venkat Jasti said: "We are very pleased by the grant of these patents to Suven for our pipeline of molecules in the CNS arena, which are being developed for cognitive disorders with high unmet medical need with a huge market potential globally."Also read - Quess Corp IPO opens today: Should you subscribe or avoid?12:00 pm Market Check

The market continued to hold its morning gains on the back of support from auto, pharma, IT and select banking & financial stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 123.63 points to 26648.18 and the Nifty advanced 45.10 points to 8172.95. The market breadth remained strong as about three shares advanced for every share falling on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

The Cabinet in its today's meeting has cleared mineral exploration policy and recommendations related to 7th pay commission.