Bourses trim gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets trimmed some of their gains in late afternoon session on profit booking. Markets participants were keenly watching out for outcome of two-day meeting of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) which will announce its decision on a rate hike later in the day. The Fed will also release its most recent projections for GDP growth, the labour market, and consumer prices. However, sentiments remained positive on report that despite recent global headwinds, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has kept its outlook for India's economic growth unchanged at 7 per cent for the fiscal year 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023) from its September forecast supported by a strong domestic base.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data ramped up hopes of slowing interest rate hikes, although sentiment still remained cautious in anticipation of more signals on monetary policy from the Federal Reserve. European markets were trading lower, as European Central Bank and the Bank of England, are scheduled to release their latest rate decisions tomorrow. Eurozone industrial production data for October are due later in the session.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62650.90, up by 117.60 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 62591.28 and 62835.11. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.73%, while Small cap index was up by 0.83%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.54%, Metal up by 1.49%, Utilities up by 1.19%, Power up by 1.12% and PSU was up by 1.11%, while FMCG was down by 0.54% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.92%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.64%, Indusind Bank up by 1.32%, Tata Steel up by 1.26% and SBI up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.82%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.25%, Asian Paints down by 1.08%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.94% and ICICI Bank down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) eased further to 5.85% in the month of November 2022 as against 8.39% recorded in October 2022, primarily contributed by fall in prices of food articles, basic metals, textiles, chemicals & chemical products and paper & paper products as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. The wholesale inflation was 10.70% in September 2022.

The Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, declined by 1.82% to 177.7 (provisional) in November 2022 from 181.0 (provisional) for the month of October 2022. Prices of Minerals, Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas and Non-food Articles increased in November 2022 as compared to October 2022. But, prices of Food Articles declined in November 2022 as compared to October 2022.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by 2.84% to 159.6 (provisional) in November 2022 from 155.2 (provisional) for the month of October 2022. Prices of Mineral Oils and Electricity increased in November 2022 as compared to October 2022.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, declined by 0.28% to 141.5 (provisional) in November 2022 from 141.9 (provisional) for the month of October 2022. Meanwhile, for the month of September 2022 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011- 12=100) stood at 151.9 and 10.55% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18652.05, up by 44.05 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 18632.90 and 18696.10. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.39%, ONGC up by 2.25%, NTPC up by 1.98%, JSW Steel up by 1.86% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.76%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.29%, Asian Paints down by 1.10%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.95% and Britannia down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 216.40 points or 1.49% to 14,739.36, Nikkei 225 surged 201.36 points or 0.72% to 28,156.21, Hang Seng increased 77.25 points or 0.39% to 19,673.45, KOSPI rose 26.85 points or 1.13% to 2,399.25, Straits Times advanced 14.45 points or 0.44% to 3,285.73 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.20 points or 0.01% to 3,176.53. On the other side, Jakarta Composite was down by 8.57 points or 0.13% to 6,801.75.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 34.74 points or 0.46% to 7,468.15, France’s CAC decreased 28.51 points or 0.42% to 6,716.47 and Germany’s DAX was down by 62.75 points or 0.43% to 14,435.14.