Indian shares advanced in the opening trade on Thursday, with the benchmark Sensex hitting a fresh all-time high. Trade sentiment improved after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a plan to create a Rs 25,000 crore alternative investment fund for affordable and middle-income housing projects.

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The Nifty50 also opened above the psychological 12,000 mark. The benchmark 30-share BSE index started at 40,625.64 and hit the day's high at 40,656.66. The broader NSE index started a tad below the day's high of 12,021.40.

Broader markets too climbed with the Nifty MidCap 100 index almost half a percent up. The banking gauge, Nifty Bank rose 0.37 percent. Nifty Realty index remained the best-performing index, rising 3 percent with Sobha as the index top-performer.

Among Nifty gainers, Bharti Infratel, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, IndusInd Bank, HDFC and UltraTech Cement rose between 1 and 3 percent. Tata Steel, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, JSW Steel, Tata Motors and Eicher Motors slipped by up to 2 percent.

Tata Steel, India's largest private-sector steelmaker, reported a 5.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 3,302.3 crore for the second quarter ended September 2019.

Other metal shares such as Vedanta and JSW Steel also traded under pressure amid continued uncertainty over the signing of a US-China preliminary trade agreement.

Lupin shares declined nearly 4 percent after the pharma company reported a mixed second-quarter performance. While revenue was in line with estimates, the margins and adjusted profit missed estimates.

Sun Pharma will release its Q2FY20 earnings on Thursday. The pharmaceuticals giant is expected to see around 15-17 percent revenue growth.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 7 paise at 71.05 per dollar on Thursday against Wednesday's close of 70.98.

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First Published:Nov 7, 2019 9:41 AM IST