Sensex, Nifty hold morning gains; Midcap, Smallcap outperform

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Earnings: Public sector lender Punjab National Bank's (PNB) first quarter profit plunged by 57.5 percent to Rs 306.4 crore on yearly basis but the fall was much less compared to analysts' expectations. Higher other income and lower tax cost supported profits

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, declined 9.8 percent to Rs 3,699 crore compared with year-ago period, impacted slow loan growth.

Advances increased 2.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3.9 lakh crore while deposits grew by 7 percent to Rs 5.5 lakh crore at the end of June 2016.

12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened slightly lower as markets digest the latest monetary policy decision from the US Federal Reserve, a raft of earnings and look ahead to the latest decision from the Bank of Japan.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.18 percent.

Earnings are in focus for European investors today. Credit Suisse reported a surprise profit for the second quarter of 2016 ahead of market open while French bank BNP Paribas posted better-than-expected second-quarter profit, even as its retail bank struggled.12:20 pm Interview: ADF Foods has approved buyback of shares worth Rs 18 crore. Bimal Thakkar, Managing Director of ADF Foods told CNBC-TV18 that the promoters holding will rise by 4 percent after the buyback. "We are very optimistic about company's business; things are looking good," Thakkar told CNBC-TV18."We continue to expand our presence in domestic business and we will see it growing this year", he said.

On the company's US business, Thakkar said that it was turning around and all efforts were being taken to grow the revenues.Thakkar expects the US business to break-even by this year-end.Also read - Earnings, liquidity driving rally in EMs; more upside seen: UBS12:00 pm Market Check

The market maintained its morning gains ahead of expiry of July futures and options contracts. Banks, select FMCG and auto stocks supported benchmarks while the fall in Infosys, L&T and Tata Motors limited upside.

The Sensex was up 100.31 points at 28124.64 and the Nifty gained 32.20 points at 8648 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices continued to outperform, up nearly 1 percent each.

About 1500 shares advanced against 877 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.