Sensex, Nifty trade higher with marginal gains ahead of IIP, CPI data

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start on Tuesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as well as firm cues from Asian counterparts amid optimism the US Fed could resort to cutting interest rates as soon as March 2024. Besides, producer prices in Japan were up 0.2 percent on month in November. The markets also await a slew of central bank decisions this week, including the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and the Norges Bank. Sensex and Nifty are trading higher with marginal gains in early deals as traders avoided taking any long positon ahead of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of October and Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of November to be out later in the day for more directional cues. 

Foreign fund inflows also aided sentiments in domestic markets. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,261.13 crore on December 11. On the sectoral front, aviation industry stocks are in focus with report that the growth in India's domestic aviation capacity in calendar year 2023 (CY23) was the sixth highest among 20 major domestic markets, compared to the pre-pandemic year of CY19. In stock specific development, Dixon Tech traded with traction as its wholly-owned subsidiary Padget Electronics has won a contract from Lenovo to manufacture laptops and notebooks, under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) 2.0 Scheme.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 69954.46, up by 25.93 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 69934.23 and 70033.64. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 0.65%, FMCG up by 0.49%, Metal up by 0.35%, Healthcare up by 0.30% and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.29%, while Capital Goods down by 0.52%, Oil & Gas down by 0.38%, Telecom down by 0.25%, Energy down by 0.24% and Industrials down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 1.09%, ITC up by 1.04%, Power Grid up by 1.00%, Tata Steel up by 0.85% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.13%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.86%, Infosys down by 0.76%, Titan Company down by 0.53% and Axis Bank down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said retail inflation is now ‘stable’ and temporary increases in inflation on a few occasions are caused by demand-supply mismatches arising out of global shocks and adverse weather conditions. Sitharaman said India’s retail inflation has declined from an average of 7.1 per cent in April-October 2022 to 5.4 per cent in the corresponding period of 2023. She said the core inflation rate has declined from 5.1 per cent in April 2023 to 4.3 per cent in October 2023. The minister said retail inflation in India has been mostly within acceptable limits after the notification of the inflation tolerance band in 2016.

She added ‘Temporary increases in inflation on a few occasions are caused by demand-supply mismatches arising out of global shocks and adverse weather conditions’. She also said proactive supply-side initiatives by the government and effective demand stabilisation measures by the Reserve Bank of India have helped resolve the demand-supply mismatches and rein in inflation. The measures taken by the government to restrain inflation include strengthening buffers for key food items, making periodic open market releases, easing imports of essential food items through trade policy measures, and preventing hoarding through imposition/revision of stock limits, and channelling supplies through designated retail outlets.

To ensure food security for the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which provides free foodgrains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries, has been extended for five years with effect from January 1, 2024. In October 2023, the government also increased the subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana from Rs 200 to Rs 300 per 14.2 kg cylinder.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21021.55, up by 24.45 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 21001.85 and 21037.90. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.03%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.96%, Grasim Industries up by 1.92%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.90% and SBI Life Insurance up by 1.14%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.58%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.14%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.85%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.76% and Infosys down by 0.68% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng jumped 137.02 points or 0.84% to 16,338.51, Nikkei 225 surged 61.29 points or 0.19% to 32,853.09, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 37.84 points or 0.22% to 17,456.18, Straits Times rose 12.88 points or 0.42% to 3,103.08, Jakarta Composite gained 7.82 points or 0.11% to 7,096.61, KOSPI added 6.92 points or 0.27% to 2,532.28 and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.92 points or 0.06% to 2,993.36.