Sensex off day's high, Nifty hovers around 8250; HDFC Bank drags

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: The Sensex rose 152.53 points to 26892.92 and the Nifty gained 47.65 points at 8251.65. About 1515 shares have advanced against 890 declining shares on BSE.12:45 pm Europe opens: European stocks came under pressure at open, as a rebound seen in UK stocks following the Brexit vote lost steam and a renewed decline in oil prices weighed on sentiment.

The pan-European STOXX 600 opened 0.5 percent down, with all sectors falling into negative territory.

London's FTSE index was off 0.3 percent around the open, while the UK's domestically focused FTSE 250 index was roughly flat. Meanwhile, the French CAC slipped 0.6 percent while the German DAX fell 0.4 percent.

Despite uncertainty over the UK and European Union's future relationship after the country voted last week to leave the bloc, markets in the region rallied on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 reclaiming all of its post Brexit losses on Wednesday.12:20 pm Gayatri Projects in news: Gayatri Projects today said it has bagged a Rs 306-crore order from the Centre for four-laning of a highway on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border.

"Gayatri Projects has secured a Rs 306 crore contract for the four-laning of a highway on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways," Gayatri Projects said in a BSE filing.

Giving details of the projects, the company said the projects is for rehabilitation and up gradation of NH-4 from km 133.36 to km 179.59 (Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border to Nalagampalli Village) to four-lane with paved shoulder in the state of Andhra Pradesh on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis.Also read - There are now $11.7 trillion worth of bonds with negative yields12:00 pm Market Check

The market lost half of its morning gains due to profit booking in HDFC Bank and Infosys. The Sensex gained 135.25 points at 26875.64 and the Nifty rose 41 points to 8245. Volatility is also gradually rising ahead of expiry of June derivative contracts.

The broader markets marginally outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.7-0.8 percent. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Oil prices fell, with Brent futures struggling to defend USD 50 per barrel as fears over strike outages in Norway faded and as Nigeria's production improved. International Brent crude oil futures were trading at USD 50.16 per barrel, down 0.9 percent, from their last settlement. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 0.84 percent at USD 49.46 a barrel.