Markets maintain gains in early noon session

Domestic equity markets maintained their gains and were trading higher by over half a percent in early noon session on account of buying by funds and retail investors. Hectic buying in Bajaj Finance, Indusind Bank, Tata Motors, Axis Bank and NTPC helped the markets to maintain their gains. Meanwhile broader indices outperformed their large peers with BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index gaining in the range of 0.95-1.20%. Sentiments were up beat  as India Ratings and Research upped India’s GDP growth estimate for current fiscal to 6.7 per cent, from 6.2 per cent, citing resilient economy, sustained government capex and prospect of a new private corporate capex cycle. Traders were also getting encouragement as private report said that rural demand is likely to pick up pace in 2024 owing to moderation in inflation, replenishment of rural savings after the Covid pandemic, increased liquidity on the back of pre-election spending, and a likely stable regime. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following negative cues from the US markets overnight, amid the release of the minutes of the US Fed's latest monetary policy meeting, which indicated uncertainty over near-term interest rate cuts this year. Back home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in green, with only exception of TECK counter. Stocks from Realty, Utilities, Power, PSU and Telecom counters were the prominent gainers. In the stock specific development, Torrent Power surged after the company signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for projects worth Rs 47,350 crore with the Gujarat government.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71805.50, up by 448.90 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 71546.60 and 71862.41. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.18%, while Small cap index up by 0.99%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 5.69%, Utilities up by 2.38%, Power up by 1.69%, PSU up by 1.40% and Telecom up by 1.07%, while TECK down by 0.04% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.08%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.06%, Indusind Bank up by 2.77%, Tata Motors up by 2.12% and Axis Bank up by 2.11%. On the flip side, HCL down by 1.11%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.90%, TCS down by 0.86%, Tata Steel down by 0.63% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings in its latest report titled 'APAC Cross-Sector Outlook 2024' has said that the economic growth in Asia Pacific will remain strong in 2024 and GDP is expected to grow by about 5 per cent in India and a host of emerging market countries. It said the outlooks for the banking sectors in India and Indonesia, as well as APAC emerging markets as a whole, move to improving in 2024, partly reflecting the robust economic backdrop. 

It stated that the Indian economy grew 7.2 per cent in 2022-23 fiscal year. India’s GDP expanded 7.8 per cent and 7.6 per cent in the June and September quarters, respectively. Earlier, Fitch had said it expects India to be among the world's fastest-growing large sovereigns, with resilient GDP growth of 6.9 per cent this fiscal, followed by 6.5 per cent in 2024-25. It noted that robust regional economic growth – particularly in Asia’s large emerging markets - should offset headwinds from slowing growth in China, weak global demand and high interest rates, helping to support performance across sectors in APAC in 2024.

Fitch further said headwinds from slower Chinese growth, weak global demand and higher interest burdens following the rise in interest rates over 2022-23 will weigh on performance for many sectors. But the bulk of Fitch's APAC sector outlooks for 2024 remain neutral. It said ‘Sino-US tensions have eased recently, but we expect relations to remain challenging, which will lead companies to pursue further supply-chain diversification to limit exposure to geopolitical risks’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21642.85, up by 125.50 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 21564.55 and 21659.35. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 4.11%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.00%, Tata Consumer Produc up by 2.91%, Indusind Bank up by 2.78% and ONGC up by 2.67%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.62%, LTIMindtree down by 1.24%, HCL down by 1.13%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.08% and TCS down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 102.3 points or 0.61% to 16,544.11, Nikkei 225 slipped 175.88 points or 0.53% to 33,288.29, Taiwan Weighted lost 9.66 points or 0.06% to 17,549.65, Straits Times fell 37.99 points or 1.19% to 3,161.45, KOSPI dropped 20.92 points or 0.8% to 2,586.39 and Shanghai Composite weakened 25.69 points or 0.87% to 2,941.56. However, Jakarta Composite gained 50.8 points or 0.69% to 7,329.89.