The Sensex and Nifty pared early morning gains on profit booking in banking stocks which saw a stellar run during the last one month. While the Sensex was trading 117 points higher at 38,662, the Nifty gained 36 points to 11,606 level in afternoon session. Bank Nifty has risen 13.56% since February 27 and hit an all time high of 30,499 in trade yesterday. BSE Bankex too hit its all-time high of 34,294 in trade yesterday.

Here’s a look at live updates for the Indian share market today.

2:45 pm: Rupee trades at 69.14 per dollar in afternoon trade from its opening level of 69.24.

2:25 pm: Top Gainers in BSE 200 are Jindal Steel & Power (8.13%), SAIL (6.53%), Vodafone Idea (5.90%) ; Top Losers in BSE 200 are SBI Life Insurance (-4.92%), Bajaj Hold & Invest (-4.28%), Godrej Properties (-3.36%).

2:15 pm: SBI Life confirms sale of 5.07% stake by BNP Paribas in company via block deal. Shares of SBI Life Insurance Ltd have fallen as much as 6.4 per cent to Rs 577.50. They are trading at Rs 587, 30 points.

2:05 pm: Sensex is trading up by 89.60 points and Nifty up by 30.15 points.

1: 54 pm: IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto and Axis Bank were top Sensex losers.

1:52 pm: Saurabh Jain, AVP Research at SMC global securities said, “Markets have gained momentum, thanks to increased participation from FIIs, we are pricing in the probability of the current government returning (to power). Investors now await cues from the corporate results season which is set to start from mid-April.”

“Markets will make up mind about the earnings position once we see results from IT companies and banks… if it is good news then this momentum would continue,” said Jain.

1:45 pm: Tata Motors, Vedanta and Tata Steel were the top Sensex gainers.

1:30 pm: Tata Motors share price rose over 3% to 177.10 after the auto firm became the first Indian automaker to cross the 1 million annual sales mark, surpassing Chinese giants SAIC and Changan.

1: 15 pm: Shivendra Foujdar, Founder and Managing Partner at Avighna Trades commented on the Railway Vikas Nigam Limited IPO which opened today.

He said, “Railway Vikas Nigam Limited, a PSU under Railway ministry is ready for listing on BSE and NSE. If we analyse financials of last three years, the company is growing at around 30% in terms of revenues and at around 20% in terms of net profit. RVNL is in the business of executing all types of railway projects, including new lines, doubling, gauge conversion, railway electrification, metro projects, workshops, major bridges, construction of cable-stayed bridges and institution buildings. From cost perspective being into consultancy service, it has a limited investment requirement for infra and related things with more than 100 work orders in hand of worth more than Rs 77,000 crore. The government’s focus is on rail infrastructure spends, strong order book, attractive valuations, strong execution capabilities and robust balance sheet. The IPO looks promising as a long term pick which is reasonably priced too.”

1: 00 pm: Market heavyweight Reliance Indsutries share price was trading 0.40 percent higher at 1,366 level , 20 points short of its all-time high of 1386.60 level.

12: 45 pm: BSE midcap and small cap indices clock major gains in afternooon session. While Midcap index was trading 160 points higher at 15,488, BSE small cap index rose 83 points to 15,002 level.

12:25 pm: Sensex has gained 8% this month and Nifty rose 7.20% during the same period.

12:20 pm: US President Donald Trump says OPEC should rein in rising oil prices. Brent crude oil prices stood at $67.99 per barrel and WTI Crude oil price was trading at $59.54 per barrel.

12:00 PM: While 121 stocks hit their upper circuit, 143 fell to their lower circuit on BSE.

11: 50 am: 41 stocks hit 52-week highs and 57 fell to their 52-week lows on BSE.

11:47 am: PNB sells 12.92% stake in PNB Housing Finance to General Atlantic Group & Varde Partners for a total consideration of Rs 1,851.6 crore. The deal was done at Rs 850 per share, a 2.47% premium to yesterday’s closing price 829.50 on BSE. While Punjab National Bank share price was trading 0.84% higher at 96.20, PNB Housing Finance rose 3.82% to 861.15 on BSE.

11:28 am: Vedanta (3.54%), Tata Motors (2.43%) and Tata Steel (2.06%) were the top Sensex gainers.

11: 22 am: BSE consumers durables index too was among top losers in trade today. The index fell 110 points to 23,573.

11:15 am: Banking stocks which had a stellar run during the last one month was trading lower. BSE bankex which rose 13.56%since February 27 was among the top losers among 19 sectoral indices. The index was trading 68 points lower at 34,087 level.

Mustafa Nadeem, CEO at Epic Research said, “Nifty bank is aggressively bullish as compared to any other index and has been outperforming the index and other sectors lately. The move is based on the stocks that are weighed heavily and which are seeing long positions being built up. These stocks with higher weight are seeing 52 weeks new highs, some of them are at new all time highs.

The fact is that most funds/mutual funds as well have these stocks in the holding and are seen as a safe bet; not just among the fund houses or institutional players but also large retail participation as well. The stocks that are actually pulling it up to the all-time high levels are HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.”

“The blue chips are the most favored on the street and not any dips are left behind by long term investors. Then there are other performers like RBL Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank that joins the list are seeing their levels mostly close to some percentage of their all-time highs. So any correction there is an opportunity as well.

The recent revival in YES Bank and SBI is also fueling this momentum. We expect Bank Nifty to remain strong and further test higher levels of 31,000 – 31,400. BSE Bank index is also seeing good momentum and we expect it to test 35,200 – 35,500 in coming weeks. Investors should also note that since they are at all time high, we believe the rationale should be buy on dips which are of around 5%. That would favour the risk-reward and apply the scattered approach in investing these indices by utilising the dips,” he added.

11: 14 am: Metals, auto stocks lead gains. While BSE auto index rises 207 points to 18,806, metal index gains 274 points to 11,370.

11:13 am: Sensex trading 46 points higher at 38,592, Nifty rises 13 points to 11,582.

11:03 am: Jet Airways share price was trading 1% higher at 272.05 level on BSE after the crisis-hit airline, where lenders are set to take control under a debt resolution plan, said it has delayed repayment of overseas borrowing due to “temporary liquidity constraints”. This is at least the fourth time that the airline has defaulted on debt repayment in recent months.

10:49 am: Of 30 Sensex stocks, 17 were trading in the green.

10:30 am: Vedanta Ltd (3.34%), Tata Motors (2.20%), Tata Steel (2.07%) top Sensex gainers.

10:15 am: Shares of MSTC fell more than 13 percent on their market debut after the state-owned scrap metals trading firm’s initial public offering raised Rs 226 crore. The stock was trading at Rs 116.40, after touching a low of Rs 111, compared with the IPO price’s higher end of Rs 128. The offering was subscribed around 1.5 times on the last day of sale earlier this month.

10:00 AM: Rail Vikas Nigam IPO opens for subscription.

9:52 am: Top turnover stocks on BSE were SBI Life, YES Bank and IndiaBulls Housing Finance.

9:51 am: Reliance Power, Idea Cellular, Jindal Steel top gainers on BSE.

9:50 am: SBI Life, Reliance Communications, Bajaj Holdings top losers on BSE

9:45 am: Top Sensex losers were IndusInd Bank (1.31%), Coal India (0.62%) and Bajaj Finance (0.41%).

9:40 am: On Thursday, Sensex closed 412 points higher at 38,545, Nifty closed 124 points higher at 11,570.

9:36 am: The BSE mid cap and small cap indices were trading 78 points and 62 points higher in early trade.

9:35 am: Market breadth was positive with 926 stocks trading higher compared to 517 falling on the BSE.

9:30 am: On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 3594 crore on Thursday, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 2080 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

9:26 am: Vedanta (2.19%), YES Bank (2.11%) and Tata Motors (1.41%) were the top Sensex gainers.

9:20 am: Asian markets were mostly higher on Friday as US and Chinese officials kicked off a fresh round of trade talks in Beijing.

The Shanghai Composite index added 0.6 percent to 28,944.33 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.7 percent to 3,044.63. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.3 percent to 2,134.28. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1 percent to 21,232.93. The country’s retail sales fell slightly in February from a month earlier, preliminary data showed.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2 percent at 6,189.80. Shares rose in Taiwan and Singapore but fell in Indonesia.

9: 10 am: Rupee opens at 69.24 per dollar from its last close of 69.35