Sensex, Nifty maintain gaining momentum

Indian equity benchmarks were maintaining their gaining momentum during early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding strong gains, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at IT and TECK counters. Sentiments were optimistic, as the provisional payroll data of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) reveals that 17.28 lakh new employees have been added in the month of October, 2023. Around 23,468 new establishments have been registered and brought under the social security umbrella of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation in the month of October, 2023, thus ensuring more coverage. The street took a note of S&P Global Ratings’ statement that India needs to lower its fiscal deficit 'a lot more' if it wants to get an upgrade. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as industrial production in China was up 6.6 percent on year in November. That beat forecasts for an increase of 5.6 percent and was up from 4.6 percent in October. The bureau also said that retail sales jumped an annual 10.1 percent - shy of expectations for 12.5 percent but up from 7.6 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 70997.84, up by 483.64 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 70655.97 and 71084.08. 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 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 4.00%, TECK up by 3.15%, Metal up by 1.48%, Oil & Gas up by 1.28% and Basic Materials up by 1.19%, while FMCG down by 0.51%, Realty down by 0.26% and Bankex down by 0.07% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech. up by 4.47%, TCS up by 4.47%, Infosys up by 4.03%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.79% and Wipro up by 3.00%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.72%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.00%, ITC down by 0.86%, ICICI Bank down by 0.60% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India ratings and research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the liquidity conditions in the Indian banking system are expected to improve in a meaningful way from January 2024, owing to a surge in government spending ahead of the vote on account.

According to the report, foreign portfolio investment (FPI) flows in the equity market have surged in December. Therefore, it said the lumpy government spending and improvement in the balance of payment account will cause a sharp improvement in banking system liquidity.

Ind-Ra highlighted that the number of issuances in the primary commercial paper (CP) market increased in November 2023 in terms of both value and number of issuers, largely driven by the need for higher balance sheet liquidity throughout the year. It opined that CP issuances will stay healthy in the remaining part of the fiscal. It said overall, month-on-month CP issuances will show moderate growth incrementally. It added that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) recent move to increase the risk weight on consumer credit of commercial banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) would push NBFCs to incremental. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21324.65, up by 141.95 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 21235.30 and 21355.65. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 4.50%, HCL Tech. up by 4.43%, Infosys up by 4.06%, LTIMindtree up by 3.71% and Tech Mahindra up by 3.69%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.12%, Nestle down by 1.82%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.36%, Britannia down by 1.19% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 372.29 points or 2.27% to 16,774.48, Taiwan Weighted added 20.76 points or 0.12% to 17,673.87, Jakarta Composite gained 9.94 points or 0.14% to 7,185.96, KOSPI increased 19.38 points or 0.76% to 2,563.56 and Nikkei 225 surged 284.3 points or 0.86% to 32,970.55, while Straits Times fell 9.62 points or 0.31% to 3,113.33 and Shanghai Composite weakened 16.43 points or 0.56% to 2,942.56.