Bourses maintain gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets maintained their gains in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty and Metal sectors’ stocks while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas sector's stocks. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded in green. Traders took support as Federation Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) expects the economy to grow at 7.5 to 8 per cent in the current fiscal and 8 per cent in 2024-25 on the back of strong growth momentum, positive sentiments and rising private investments. There will, however, be geopolitical pressure points that may have a bearing on India's growth prospects. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors awaited cues from a slew of central bank meetings and key U.S. economic data due later in the week that could dent market hopes for rate cuts next year. European markets were trading mostly in red ahead of a busy week of central bank meetings and economic data releases. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 69899.80, up by 74.20 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 69782.48 and 70057.83. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.72%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 0.99%, Realty up by 0.96%, Metal up by 0.84%, PSU up by 0.75% and Capital Goods was up by 0.55%, while Healthcare down by 0.61% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.14% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.49%, Power Grid up by 0.92%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.90%, HCL Tech up by 0.87% and NTPC up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.17%, Axis Bank down by 1.05%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.82%, Asian Paints down by 0.80% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its ‘Inflation expectations survey of households (IESH) - November 2023’ has showed that households expect some rise in price and inflationary pressures across major product groups for the year ahead. The survey was conducted during November 2-11, 2023 in 19 major cities, with responses from 6,036 urban households. 

The survey further showed that households’ perception on current inflation declined by 20 basis points (bps) from the previous survey round to 8.2 per cent in November 2023. Besides, median inflation expectation remained stable for the three months ahead period at 9.1 per cent, but it increased for one-year horizon by 20 bps to 10.1 per cent in November 2023.

As per the report, expectations regarding overall prices and inflation over the next three months were more aligned with those of food products and services; for the year ahead, such alignment is more pronounced with the prospects for food products and housing segments.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20984.30, up by 14.90 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 20923.70 and 21026.10. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.22%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.19%, ONGC up by 1.76%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.23% and LTIMindtree up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 5.36%, Cipla down by 1.80%, BPCL down by 1.64%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.20% and Axis Bank down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 483.94 points or 1.48% to 32,791.80, Taiwan Weighted added 34.35 points or 0.2% to 17,418.34, Shanghai Composite strengthened 21.88 points or 0.73% to 2,991.44 and KOSPI was up by 7.51 points or 0.3% to 2,525.36. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 23.97 points or 0.77% to 3,086.76, Jakarta Composite plunged 94.04 points or 1.31% to 7,065.56 and Hang Seng was down by 132.88 points or 0.82% to 16,201.49.

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 22.14 points or 0.29% to 7,532.33 and Germany’s DAX was down by 11.12 points or 0.07% to 16,748.10. On the flip side, France’s CAC was up by 18.87 points or 0.25% to 7,545.42.