Bourses hit fresh record highs in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks widened their gains and currently traded near day’s high points in late afternoon session. Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid and Tata Steel were the prime gainers among heavy-weights, pushing the Sensex higher. Traders overlooked private report stated that India’s economy probably expanded at a slower pace last quarter as price pressures, rising interest rates and sluggish trade tempered demand in Asia’s third largest economy. Traders took note of report that Finance Ministry has called a meeting of CEOs of banks, including top six private sector lenders, on December 5, 2022 to discuss ways to promote cross-border trade in the rupee instead of the US dollar. In scrip specific development, Zomato remained in limelight after Alibaba Group is reportedlyplanning to sell 3% stake in the company worth $200 million through block deal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green despite weak data from China and worries about the worsening COVID-19 situation in the country. Investors also awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech later in the day for interest-rate clues. European markets were trading higher as regional investors monitored the latest inflation data from the euro zone in November.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62,862.77, up by 180.93 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 62648.38 and 62865.74. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.42%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.50%, Realty up by 1.24%, Auto up by 1.09%, Oil & Gas up by 0.80% and Telecom was up by 0.75%, while PSU down by 0.09%, Healthcare down by 0.07%, IT down by 0.07% and Bankex was down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.41%, Power Grid up by 1.41%, Tata Steel up by 1.08%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.02% and Asian Paints up by 0.84%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.10%, Indusind Bank down by 0.95%, Nestle down by 0.94%, Sun Pharma down by 0.68% and HCL Tech down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is all set to launch the first pilot for retail digital Rupee on December 01, 2022.  The pilot would cover select locations in closed user group (CUG) comprising participating customers and merchants. The retail digital Rupee would be in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It would be issued in the same denominations that paper currency and coins are currently issued. It would be distributed through intermediaries, i.e., banks.

Users will be able to transact with retail digital Rupee through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones / devices. Transactions can be both Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M). Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations. The retail digital Rupee would offer features of physical cash like trust, safety and settlement finality. As in the case of cash, it will not earn any interest and can be converted to other forms of money, like deposits with banks.

The pilot will test the robustness of the entire process of digital rupee creation, distribution and retail usage in real time. Different features and applications of the retail digital Rupee token and architecture will be tested in future pilots, based on the learnings from this pilot. Eight banks have been identified for phase-wise participation in this pilot. The first phase will begin with four banks, viz., State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank in four cities across the country. Four more banks, viz., Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank will join this pilot subsequently.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18,691.90, up by 73.85 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 18616.55 and 18679.55. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.95%, Hindalco up by 2.82%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.42%, Tata Motors up by 1.59% and Power Grid up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.08%, SBI down by 1.07%, Nestle down by 0.95%, Sun Pharma down by 0.76% and ITC down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 392.55 points or 2.16% to 18,597.23, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 169.91 points or 1.16% to 14,879.55, Jakarta Composite soared 69.24 points or 0.99% to 7,081.31, KOSPI rose 39.14 points or 1.61% to 2,472.53, Shanghai Composite gained 1.59 points or 0.05% to 3,151.34 and Straits Times was up by 0.64 points or 0.02% to 3,277.00. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 58.85 points or 0.21% to 27,968.99.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 18.99 points or 0.25% to 7,530.99, France’s CAC increased 20.70 points or 0.31% to 6,689.67 and Germany’s DAX was up by 65.54 points or 0.46% to 14,420.99.