Sensex, Nifty maintain uptrend; Coal India, Hero up 1%

Moneycontrol Bureau11:55 am Interview: Realty player DLF has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with Ridgewood Holding Ltd to develop seven residential projects in Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi and Indore.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Saurabh Chawla, Senior ED of Finance at DLF said that the rationale behind this JV is to increase focus on premium and luxury projects and Ridgewood will take 100 percent control in certain projects post re-alignment.

He added that post project completion, the leftover land will be taken under full control by either of the companies.11:45 am Exclusive: Fortis Healthcare is likely set to demerge SRL Diagnostics in to a separate entity within the next 2-3 weeks.

Sources say that SRL Diagnostics will be listed in to a separate entity and Fortis shareholders will receive shares of SRL Diagnostics.

The valuation of SRL Diagnostics is estimated to be around Rs 6,000 crore.

Fortis is also exploring the option of a reverse merger of SRL Diagnostics into the group company, as per sources.

When contacted for comment, Fortis Healthcare told CNBC-TV18 that it was evaluating demerger of its diagnostics business to unlock value and plans to present demerger proposal before the board once its analysis is done.11:30 am Buzzing: Aurobindo Pharma and Glenmark shares rallied 3-4 percent intraday on approval from the US health regulator for antihyperlipidemic drug. "....has received final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Rosuvastatin calcium tablets, 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg and 40 mg," says Hyderabad-based Aurobindo in its filing. The company has launched this product in the US market. The approved ANDA, which is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product Crestor tablets of IPR Pharmaceuticals Inc, has an estimated market size of USD 6.7 billion for the twelve months ending May 2016, according to IMS.Don't miss: Advanced Enzyme Tech IPO opens today: Should you subscribe?

The market continues to be in green with IT stocks exerting pressure. The Sensex is up 75.23 points or 0.3 percent at 27862.85, and the Nifty up 20.85 points or 0.2 percent at 8549.40. About 1387 shares have advanced, 697 shares declined, and 133 shares are unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's, Coal India, HDFC Bank and GAIL are gainers while Wipro, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints and HDFC are losers in the Sensex.

Oil futures rose in Asian but gains were limited and U.S. crude traded sideways in advance of the release of official weekly inventory figures later in the day. US crude rose earlier after industry group the American Petroleum Institute reported crude stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels last week. That was just above a 2.1 million-barrels draw forecast in a Reuters poll.