Sensex, Nifty marginally higher; Midcap outperforms, FMCG gains

Moneycontrol Bureau11:35 am Market Expert: Factoring in Donald Trump's march in the US presidential race, BSE member Ramesh Damani said that he has been proven wrong on his views. He said he had always believed that a Trump victory is one event that could never happen in the US and that he is stunned at Trump being elected as the Republican candidate. He said global economic order will be affected if Trump becomes US president.Back in India, Damani said the monsoon will be a key market-moving event and a good monsoon is being priced into market activity. He said that he is impressed by the steps taken by the Modi government in the past two years in order to tackle corruption and other initiatives like Make in India. "Foundation is being laid for a vigorous bull market," Damani said.11:20 am Buzzing: Shares of Suven Life Sciences rose 3.4 percent intraday has secured four product patents to their new chemical entities (NCE's).The company has secured product patents in Australia, Eurasia, Israel and USA to their NCE’s for CNS therapy through mechanism of action – H3 Inverse agonist and these patents are valid until 2032, 2030, 2031 and 2032 respectively."The granted claims of the patent include the class of selective H3 ligands discovered by Suven and are being developed as therapeutic agents and are useful in the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative disorders," as per company release. With these new patents, the company has a total of 24 granted patents from Australia, 17 from Eurasia, 9 from Israel and 24 from USA.Also read - Modi govt may sweat to push GST law despite poll success: CLSA11:00 am Market Check

Equity benchmarks were marginally higher, supported by FMCG and private banks stocks. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.4 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 70.17 points to 25372.07 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 26.35 points to 7776.05. The market breadth remained positive as about 1092 shares advanced against 920 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Oil prices slipped in Asian trade today, hit by a strong dollar and signs that global crude supply is holding up even as unplanned outages rise to at least a five-year high. In a further sign of abundant supply the number of rigs operated by U.S. drillers was steady last week for the first time this year.

Brent futures were down 0.5 percent to USD 48.48 a barrel and US crude futures fell 0.6 percent to USD 48.10 a barrel.