Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Wednesday’s trading session in a positive terrain, as traders took support with soft U.S. inflation data. A soft U.S. inflation reading boosted hopes of the Federal Reserve nearing the end of its interest rate-hiking cycle. Index made a gap up opening, as traders took encouragement after wholesale price inflation remained in the negative territory for the seventh month in a row in October at (-) 0.52 per cent on easing prices of food items. Some support also came with SBI’s report stating that India's unemployment rate is at a record low and India's labour market is undergoing a deep structural transformation with self-entrepreneurship across all echelons and higher educational attainment emerging as key enablers’.
Index remained higher in afternoon session, as sentiments remained upbeats with Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal’s statement that the trade numbers in October reflect 'green shoots'. India’s exports rose by 6.21 per cent to $33.57 billion in October this year, as against $31.6 billion a year-ago. Imports also increased to $65.03 billion in the month under consideration, as against $57.91 billion recorded in October 2022. The country's trade deficit in October stood at $31.46 billion. In last leg of trade, index extended its northward journey and ended with over a percent gains.
All the sectorial indices ended in green. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Manappuram Finance, Birlasoft and Oberoi Realty. On the other hand, the top losers were NMDC, Bajaj Finance and Federal Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 19900 - 20100 calls and 18900 - 19100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
