Sensex, Nifty likely to extend northward journey amid strong BJP-win in Maharashtra

Indian markets rallied on Friday to post their third-best single-day gains in 2024 as investors looked beyond the rout in Adani group stocks and showed renewed buying interest after key indices entered correction territory. Today, markets are likely to get gap-up opening as a decisive National Democratic Alliance (NDA) victory in Maharashtra is set to boost sentiment amid strong global cues. Some support will come with report that the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), signed in March 2024 between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, is poised to unlock new opportunities for Indian exports and drive investments worth $100 billion. However, global geopolitical uncertainty, coupled with the continued selling by foreign investors, were likely to weigh on investors' sentiment. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are on course to turn net sellers in Indian stock markets for the second straight month through November, after having remained net buyers four months on a trot until September. So far in November, FPIs have sold stocks worth Rs 26,533 crore in India. Some cautiousness may come as the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined $17.76 billion, the sharpest weekly fall, to hit a four-month low of $657.8 billion for the week ended November 15. There will be some buzz in Realty stocks with a private report that 26 major listed real estate firms in India have sold properties worth around Rs 35,000 crore during the September quarter with Godrej Properties reporting the highest sales bookings. Beverage company’s stocks will be in focus with report that the alcoholic beverage (alcobev) segment outperformed its peer categories within the discretionary consumer market in the 2024-25 (FY25) July-September quarter. While demand slowed in sectors like quick-service restaurant (QSR), apparel, and footwear, listed alcobev companies delivered strong performances. There will be some reaction in Adani Group stocks as a US agency said that it is reviewing the impact of Department of Justice bribery allegations against the founder of India's Adani Group on the agency's prior agreement to lend more than $550 million to a Sri Lankan port development backed by the group.

The US markets ended higher on Friday in reaction to President-elect Donald Trump's decisive victory early this month but gave back ground the following week before rebounding in recent sessions. Asian markets are trading in green on Monday with investors eyeing key economic data, including South Korea’s central bank rate decision.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks witnessed a major relief rally and ended with gains of over two and half percent on Friday, driven by value buying at lower levels and a rally in blue-chip bank stocks. Markets started the session on an optimistic note and experienced strong buying interest throughout the day as traders took encouragement with ICRA’s report stating that India’s economy is projected to grow at a faster pace in the third quarter of the current financial year (October-December 2024) compared to the first half of current financial year (April-September 2024). It stated that this optimism is based on improving economic indicators and robust activity levels in various sectors. Some support came with a private report that India is expected to remain relatively unaffected from the global financial disruptions that might occur due to a trade war between the US and China in 2025. The report stated that India’s structural growth prospects in the long run will remain strong despite ongoing global unpredictability. Markets extended gains in late afternoon deals and settled near day’s high point, taking support from the latest HSBC ‘flash’ PMI survey compiled by S&P Global has showed that surging new business and export sales boosted output growth across India's private sector economy in the month of November. Rising capacity pressures, evidenced by increasing backlogs, prompted companies to ramp up hiring efforts, which was supported by an overall improvement in business activity expectations. Some solace also came with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India is the best place in the world to provide sustainable infrastructure to the digital world. Minister pointed out that it will be important to understand how in the future the digital world and sustainability issues will intersect. Traders took a note of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that stable inflation acts as the foundation for sustained economic growth, boosts people’s purchasing power, and creates a stable environment for investment. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1961.32 points or 2.54% to 79,117.11, and the CNX Nifty was up by 557.35 points or 2.39% to 23,907.25.