Markets extend gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended their gains in late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. Traders took encouragement after S&P Global Ratings has said that India will become the world's third largest economy by 2030, as it forecast the nation's GDP growth reaching 7 per cent in 2026-27 fiscal year. It expects India will be the fastest growing major economy in the next three years. Besides, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that 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. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, on rising treasury yields. European markets were trading mostly in red dragged by financials after Qatar Holding cut its stake in Barclays, while investors maintained caution ahead of key economic data due later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 69201.36, up by 336.24 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 68954.88 and 69381.31. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 5.64%, Power up by 5.07%, Basic Materials up by 1.54%, Oil & Gas up by 1.43% and Bankex was up by 1.18%, while IT down by 0.91%, Realty down by 0.86%, TECK down by 0.77%, Telecom down by 0.45% and Healthcare was down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 3.55%, NTPC up by 3.17%, ICICI Bank up by 2.30%, SBI up by 2.29% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.89%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 1.66%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.50%, Infosys down by 1.15%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.08% and Wipro down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s services sector witnessed deceleration in growth during the month of November, amid softer expansions in new work intakes and output, the slowest in a year. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index eased to 56.9 in November from 58.4 in October. Further, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index which measures both manufacturing and services also fell to 57.4 in November as against 58.4 in October.

The report showed widespread slowdowns in rates of growth for both new orders and output across the four broad areas of the service economy. Finance & Insurance topped the rankings, while Real Estate & Business Services came last. Besides, international demand for Indian services improved further but, as for total new orders, growth lost momentum. The latest increase in new export orders was moderate and the slowest since June.

On the price front, services firms endured a further increase in their operating expenses, with labour, food, material and transportation costs reportedly rising since October. However, the overall rate of inflation softened to an eight-month low and was below its long run average. Charge inflation also receded to the weakest in eight months during November, though the rate of increase was above the series trend.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20805.50, up by 118.70 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 20711.15 and 20849.60. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 13.41%, Adani Ports up by 13.08%, Power Grid up by 3.45%, NTPC up by 3.15% and SBI up by 2.40%. On the flip side, LTIMindtree down by 2.15%, HCL Tech. down by 1.81%, Divi's Lab down by 1.68%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.61% and Infosys down by 1.23% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 455.45 points or 1.39% to 32,775.82, Hang Seng declined 318.19 points or 1.95% to 16,327.86, Taiwan Weighted lost 93.47 points or 0.54% to 17,328.01, Shanghai Composite weakened 50.61 points or 1.7% to 2,972.30, KOSPI dropped 20.67 points or 0.83% to 2,494.28, Jakarta Composite plunged 19.98 points or 0.28% to 7,073.62 and Straits Times was down by 9.86 points or 0.32% to 3,074.22.

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 37.11 points or 0.49% to 7,475.85 and Germany’s DAX was down by 4.39 points or 0.03% to 16,400.37, while France’s CAC rose 9.42 points or 0.13% to 7,342.01.