Bourses trade with hefty gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded with hefty gains in late afternoon session due to increased buying by market participants. Sentiments remained optimistic after the US Federal Reserve left the interest rates unchanged and signalled the possibility of three rate cuts in 2024. Besides, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised its forecast for India's economic growth rate to 6.7 per cent for Financial Year 2023-24 from 6.3 per cent. The upward revision is based on India’s higher-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.6 per cent in the September quarter. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as the dollar sank, and bond yields declined after the Federal Reserve announced a shift towards cutting borrowing costs against the backdrop of slowing growth and easing inflation. European markets were trading higher as investors cheer dovish signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve and awaited interest-rate announcements from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 70563.90, up by 979.30 points or 1.41% after trading in a range of 70110.75 and 70602.89. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.98%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.39%, IT up by 3.21%, TECK up by 2.72%, Telecom up by 2.32% and Bankex was up by 1.39%, while Consumer Durables was down by 0.16% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 4.11%, Infosys up by 3.54%, HCL Tech up by 3.29%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.15% and Indusind Bank up by 2.92%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.09%, Nestle down by 0.95%, Asian Paints down by 0.38%, Titan Company down by 0.27% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, returning to positive territory after seven months, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) rose 0.26 per cent in November from a year ago driven by the increase in prices of food articles, electricity, computer, electronics & optical products, motor vehicles, other transport equipment and other manufacturing etc. In October, the WPI inflation was -0.52 per cent.

The Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, increased 1.30% to 186.9 (provisional) in November, 2023 from 184.5 (provisional) for the month of October, 2023. Prices of Food Articles increased in November 2023 as compared to October 2023, while prices of Non-food Articles, Minerals and Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas declined in November 2023 as compared to October 2023.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased 0.78% to 155.3 (provisional) in November 2023 from 154.1 (provisional) for the month of October 2023. Prices of Electricity increased in November 2023 as compared to October 2023, while prices of Mineral Oils declined in November 2023 as compared to October 2023.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased 0.07% to 140.4 (provisional) in November 2023 from 140.3 (provisional) for the month of October 2023. Meanwhile, for the month of September 2023 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011- 12=100) stood at 151.8 and (-) 0.07% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21193.55, up by 267.20 points or 1.28% after trading in a range of 21074.45 and 21210.90. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 4.12%, Infosys up by 3.59%, LTIMindtree up by 3.56%, HCL Tech up by 3.23% and Bajaj Finance up by 3.18%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.17%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.01%, Nestle down by 0.97%, Tata Consumer down by 0.78% and Cipla down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 184.18 points or 1.04% to 17,653.11, Hang Seng advanced 173.44 points or 1.06% to 16,402.19, Jakarta Composite gained 101.9 points or 1.44% to 7,177.24, KOSPI increased 33.52 points or 1.32% to 2,544.18 and Straits Times was up by 21.71 points or 0.7% to 3,125.97. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 9.77 points or 0.33% to 2,958.99 and Nikkei 225 was down by 240.1 points or 0.73% to 32,686.25.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 161.08 points or 2.13% to 7,709.52, France’s CAC rose 108.91 points or 1.45% to 7,640.13 and Germany’s DAX was up by 201.19 points or 1.2% to 16,967.24.