Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Friday’s trading session on a higher note supported by positive India's GDP numbers. Index made a positive start, as traders took support with data showing that the India’s economy grew 7.6 percent during the July-September quarter of the current financial year 2023-24 (Q2FY24) as against 6.2 per cent in the year-ago period. The jump in GDP figures in the second quarter was led by manufacturing and construction industries. India remains the fastest-growing major economy, as China's GDP growth in the July-September quarter this year was 4.9 per cent. Besides, foreign fund inflows also supported sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors net bought shares worth Rs 8,147.85 crore on November 30.
Index remained higher in afternoon session, as India's manufacturing sector growth improved in the month of November, as strengthening client demand and more favourable input supply boosted production volumes. According to the report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) grew to 56.0 in November 2023 from 55.5 in October 2023. Some support also came as the output of eight core industries posted a growth of 12.1 percent in October 2023 on the back of robust expansion in coal, electricity, cement and steel. Core sector growth was a mere 0.7 percent in October 2022. In last leg of trade, index ended at record closing high with gains of 134.75 points.
Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except Auto stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Power Finance Corporation, Dixon Technologies (India) and REC. On the other hand, the top losers were Ashok Leyland, Tata Communications and Muthoot Finance. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 20900 - 21100 calls and 19900 - 20100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
