Sensex, Nifty open at new peaks as bull run continues

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s solid gains and scaled fresh record peaks on Tuesday. Domestic indices are marching towards northward with around half a percent gains in early deals, even though there is selling pressure in IT and Teck counters. Foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 2,073.21 crore on December 4. Sentiments got a boost as Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said India will become a $5 trillion economy early in the ‘Amrit Kaal’ on the path to achieve the goal of becoming an advanced economy by 2047. Meanwhile, investors are eyeing Services PMI data for the month of November to be out later in the day.

Global cues remained lackluster with all the Asian markets are trading in red, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, on rising treasury yields and as a stronger dollar weighed on commodity prices that took down materials and energy stocks. Traders also reacted to some economic data from the region. The service sector in Japan continued to expand in November, albeit at a slower rate, with a PMI score of 50.8, down from 51.6 in October.

Back home, metal stocks are in focus as Icra stated that the primary steel industry is likely to experience a challenging environment during the second half of FY24 amid increased input cost and weakening steel prices. In stock specific development, Brigade Enterprises traded higher as it entered into a joint development agreement with land owners to develop a residential project, spread over four acres at Kurubarahalli, Mysuru.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 69190.67, up by 325.55 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 68954.88 and 69306.97. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.15%, Power up by 1.11%, Oil & Gas up by 1.05%, Bankex up by 1.02% and Basic Materials up by 0.99%, while IT down by 0.62% and TECK down by 0.40% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.31%, Axis Bank up by 1.63%, SBI up by 1.60%, ICICI Bank up by 1.05% and Tata Motors up by 1.03%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.87%, Infosys down by 1.06%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.91%, Wipro down by 0.45% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the growth of Indian economy, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that the country will become a $5 trillion economy early in the ‘Amrit Kaal’ on the path to achieve the goal of becoming an advanced economy by 2047. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India to become a $5 trillion economy with the third largest GDP in 2027-28. Chaudhary noted that the $5 trillion milestone will be crossed with the help of a strong rupee which will result from macroeconomic stability.

At the end of 2022-23, the Indian GDP stood at $3.7 trillion. In 2010-11, India’s GDP jumped to $1.71 trillion, and further increased to $2.67 trillion in 2020-21. Minister of State for Finance said the exchange rate is not an overlooked factor as it ranks India’s GDP size in the world. He said ‘India is a market economy, and the government monitors economic progress through market-determined GDP and exchange rate’. He further said both domestic and international markets are the mechanisms that determine India’s GDP, exchange rate and contribution of various sectors to GDP. Contribution of agriculture, industry and services to nominal GDP in 2022-23 stood at 18.4 per cent, 28.3 per cent, and 53.3 per cent, respectively. 

He added the government also contributes to economic progress through policy interventions, including the measures announced in annual budgets. Major initiatives taken by the government in the last 9 years for directly increasing the GDP include, implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (IBC) Code, recapitalisation of public sector banks, rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST), reduction in corporate tax, boost in effective capital expenditure, introduction of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in 14 sectors, continuous liberalisation of the FDI regime, and building of digital infrastructure.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20789.95, up by 103.15 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 20711.15 and 20813.10. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 5.00%, Adani Enterprises up by 4.89%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.34%, BPCL up by 2.06% and Axis Bank up by 1.64%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.95%, Infosys down by 1.01%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.98%, Divi's Lab down by 0.89% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.85% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 390.49 points or 1.19% to 32,840.78, Hang Seng declined 295.55 points or 1.81% to 16,350.50, Taiwan Weighted lost 119.8 points or 0.69% to 17,301.68, Jakarta Composite dropped 29.47 points or 0.42% to 7,064.13, Shanghai Composite weakened 20.82 points or 0.69% to 3,002.09, Straits Times fell 12.36 points or 0.4% to 3,071.72 and KOSPI was down by 5.63 points or 0.22% to 2,509.32.