Markets trade higher with decent gains; Nifty reclaims 24K mark

Indian equity benchmarks made flat-to-positive start on last trading session of the month and week tracking weakness in Asian counterparts, following the lack of cues from Wall Street, as traders reacted to a slew of economic data from Japan and manufacturing data from South Korea. The developments in the Middle East are also hurting market sentiment. Also, investors are eyeing India’s GDP numbers of the country to be out later in the day for more directional cues. As per a private report, India's economy is expected to have slowed in the July-September quarter, growing at the slowest pace in 18 months, weighed down by weak urban consumption following a rise in food prices despite an increase in government spending. Soon, markets gained some traction and are trading higher with decent gains in early deals as buying in Utilities and Healthcare counters overweight selling in FMCG and IT stocks. Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their psychological 79,300 and 24,000 levels, respectively.

Besides, the BSE has announced change in the expiry day for its key weekly and monthly derivatives contracts - Sensex, Bankex and Sensex 50 - from Friday to Tuesday. The changes will come into effect from January 1, 2025. On the sectoral front, metal stocks are in limelight as Crisil Ratings said the drop in the prices of steel will impact the operating profitability of primary steel producers in the domestic market. Moreover, Enviro Infra Engineers IPO will list on the bourses. In stock specific development, NCC jumped on bagging order worth Rs 3,389 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79305.20, up by 261.46 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 79026.18 and 79452.35. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was down by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.98%, Healthcare up by 0.96%, Oil & Gas up by 0.48%, Power up by 0.47% and Auto up by 0.45%, while FMCG down by 0.15%, IT down by 0.07%, PSU down by 0.05% and Realty down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.10%, Sun Pharma up by 1.74%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.81% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.76%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.15%, ITC down by 0.57%, TCS down by 0.37%, Infosys down by 0.27% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that President-elect Donald Trump is a ‘friend of India’ and India-US friendship will only continue to blossom and grow further. The minister also said he does not foresee any problems in the Indo-US partnership, and exuded confidence that it would further strengthen with the new administration taking over in Washington. 

About how India is placed as the new Trump administration is set to assume charge in the US, the minister said ‘I think we need not jump the gun. We should let the new government (in the US) come and take charge and express their formal and official views. But to the best of my understanding of the situation and my own experience in working with the Trump administration ...I do not foresee any problem whatsoever’.

Trump, during his election campaign, had alleged that India, among all major countries, imposes the highest tariffs on foreign products and also vowed to introduce a reciprocal tax if elected to power. Goyal said Prime Minister Modi, the world's most popular leader today, has managed India's international relationships better than ever in the past. The minister emphasised that Modi has worked with three administrations in the US, the Barack Obama administration, the Donal Trump administration, the Joe Biden administration and ‘we will again work with the Trump administration’. He emphasised India's relations with the US have got better and better every year.

He said ‘As Mr Trump is himself on record to say, my good friend Mr Modi, and the confidence he (Trump) has on the India relationship, India partnership has been expressed on many occasions’. He further said ‘Mr Trump is a friend of India, a friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I am sure this friendship will only continue to blossom and grow further as is evident from the various comments he has made so far.’ 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24003.10, up by 88.95 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 23927.15 and 24049.35. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.09%, Cipla up by 1.92%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.86%, Sun Pharma up by 1.80% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.08%, Shriram Finance down by 0.59%, ITC down by 0.46%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.34% and Coal India down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 180.14 points or 0.47% to 38,168.92, Jakarta Composite plunged 79.68 points or 1.11% to 7,120.48, KOSPI dropped 35.90 points or 1.43% to 2,468.77 and Straits Times fell 19.18 points or 0.51% to 3,718.07 and. On the other hand, Hang Seng jumped 264.56 points or 1.37% to 19,631.52 and Shanghai Composite rose 52.5 points or 1.57% to 3,348.20, Taiwan Weighted was up by24.73 points or 0.11% to 22,323.63.