Indian markets carry forward gaining rally in early noon

Indian equity benchmarks carried forward their gaining rally in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding gains of over half percent each, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with buying at all the sectoral counters except FMCG and Realty, on hopes for a December rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Sentiments remained optimistic, as India scrapped the 30-month old windfall profit tax on domestically-produced crude oil and on export of jet fuel (ATF), diesel and petrol following a decline in international oil prices. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, after consumer prices in South Korea were down a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent on month in November. That was unchanged from the October reading but missed forecasts for a decline of 0.2 percent. On a yearly basis, inflation was up 1.5 percent - beneath expectations for an increase of 1.7 percent but up from 1.3 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80776.97, up by 528.89 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 80244.78 and 80853.57. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.76%, while Small cap index was up by 0.94%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.23%, Basic Materials up by 1.18%, Bankex up by 1.17%, Industrials up by 1.16% and Capital Goods up by 1.09%, while FMCG down by 0.64% and Realty down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 6.70%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.23%, SBI up by 2.11%, Axis Bank up by 2.07% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.90%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.60%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.14%, Sun Pharma down by 0.48%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.42% and Asian Paints down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government data has showed that India's power consumption rose 5.14 per cent to 125.44 billion units (BU) in November 2024 as compared to the year-ago month. In November 2023, power consumption was 119.30 GW. 

The highest supply in a day (peak power demand met) also rose marginally to 207.42 GW in November 2024 from 204.56 GW in the year-ago period. The peak power demand touched an all-time high of about 250 GW in May this year. The previous all-time high peak power demand of 243.27 GW was recorded in September 2023.

Earlier this year, the power ministry projected a peak power demand of 235 GW during the day and 225 GW during evening hours for May while 240 GW during daytime and 235 GW in the evening hours for June. The ministry had also estimated that peak power demand may hit 260 GW this summer.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24427.95, up by 151.90 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 24280.00 and 24445.80. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 6.55%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.64%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.37%, Shriram Finance up by 2.30% and SBI up by 2.06%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.58%, Trent down by 1.55%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.10%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.96% and Tata Consumer Products down by 0.53% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 132.89 points or 0.68% to 19,683.18, Jakarta Composite gained 110.29 points or 1.57% to 7,157.28, Shanghai Composite strengthened 13.59 points or 0.4% to 3,377.57, Straits Times rose 39.77 points or 1.06% to 3,791.12, KOSPI increased 45.62 points or 1.82% to 2,500.10, Nikkei 225 surged 735.84 points or 1.87% to 39,248.86 and Taiwan Weighted added 290.53 points or 1.26% to 23,027.46.