At 09.19am, the Sensex was trading up 0.21%, or 55.14 points, at 25,974.09 points, while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) broader 50-share Nifty was trading up 0.05%, or 3.75 points, at 7,743.30 points.

The government will issue WPI-based inflation data for July after 12 noon on Thursday. Bloomberg estimates wholesale inflation will be 5.1% for July as compared with 5.43% in June.

The gainers included Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, which was trading up 0.96% at Rs.807.95 and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), which rose 0.85% to Rs.2,516.

Tata Steel Ltd lost 1.27% to Rs.527.90. Tata Steel’s first-quarter profit fell 70% because of a write-down in the value of its stake in a coking coal project in Mozambique even as India’s largest steel maker’s European operations remained a drag on the company’s performance. Net profit, including those of its units, dropped to Rs.337.33 crore in the three months ended 30 June from Rs.1,139.01 crore in the year-earlier period, Tata Steel said on Wednesday.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) fell 1.53% to Rs.395.65. ONGC posted a 19% jump in first-quarter profit, but fell short of expectations, hurt by higher exploration-related write-offs and an increased subsidy payment.

The BSE FMCG index was the top sectoral gainer, up 0.72%.

Hindalco Industries Ltd and Cipla Ltd will report their earnings on Thursday.

Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC) was trading down 1.25% at Rs.1,126.65, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) was down 0.55% to Rs.207.85 and Cipla Ltd fell 0.67% to Rs.436.35.

Asian shares pushed higher. Japan’s Topix rose 0.5%, while the Australian market added 0.7%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3%.

US stocks ended higher on Wednesday as surging biotech shares helped investors shrug off disappointing retail sales data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91.13 points, or 0.55%, to close at 16,651.67. The S&P 500 was up 12.97 points, or 0.67%, to close at 1,946.72. The Nasdaq Composite added 44.88 points, or 1.02%, to end at 4,434.13.