Sensex, Nifty magnify opening gains in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made a slightly positive start on Wednesday amid mixed global cues and ahead of the Services and Composite PMI data for November to be out later in the day. But soon, markets gained traction and are trading higher with gains of around half a percent each in early deals amid value buying. Some optimism come as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) slowly returning to buying ways, or at least slowing down their continuous selling of Indian equities. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities of more than Rs 3,600 crore on December 3. Investors are eyeing the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting which starts today. The RBI Policy decision will be announced on Friday. The December meeting is significant against the backdrop of slowest growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in seven quarters - 5.4 per cent in July-September, much lower than the central bank's projection of 7 per cent. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders reacted to the political turmoil in South Korea, a deepening political crisis in France and faltering economic growth in China, with the South Korean market plunging over 2 percent. They also remained optimistic about an interest rate cut by the US Fed in December. Back home, defence stocks are in focus with report that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved five acquisition proposals worth over Rs 21,772 crore on December 3, in order to ramp up defence preparedness. In stock specific development, Rattanindia Enterprises traded with traction as its Revolt Motors reported 197 percent YoY growth in vehicle sales and 109 percent MoM increase with 1,994 units sold in November 2024, compared to 671 units in November 2023 and 952 units in October 2024.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81195.30, up by 349.55 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 80808.01 and 81208.47. 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 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.63%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.05%, PSU up by 0.97%, Capital Goods up by 0.85%, Industrials up by 0.73% and TECK up by 0.67%, while Healthcare down by 0.06% and Telecom down by 0.01% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.60%, NTPC up by 1.54%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.03%, ITC up by 0.95% and HDFC Bank up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.82%, Reliance Industries down by 0.60%, Tata Steel down by 0.44%, Tata Motors down by 0.40% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India and the UK have reviewed their ties with a focus on the early conclusion of a mutually beneficial free trade pact, boosting counter-terror cooperation and enhancing defence ties. Both nations aimed to identify new areas for collaboration, with discussions covering economic ties, technology, and security initiatives and fostering innovation in emerging technologies, clean energy, and cultural linkages.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said both sides discussed the entire gamut of strategic partnership and emphasised the importance of a sustained high-level engagement to advance the dynamic relations. It said ‘The delegations reviewed progress under the India-UK Roadmap 2030 and agreed on the need to revitalise the partnership by identifying new focus areas of collaboration and work towards a refreshed roadmap’. The two sides unveiled the 10-year roadmap in 2021 to expand ties in the key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections among others.

The MEA said the discussions covered key priorities like strengthening economic and trade ties with a focus on the early conclusion of a mutually beneficial FTA and bolstering defence and security ties including in areas of cyber and counter-terrorism. At the 2+2 dialogue, the two sides also discussed ways to foster innovation in critical and emerging technologies, deepen cooperation in clean and green energy and technology, health and enhance cultural, educational and people-to-people linkages. The India-UK talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022. The two sides have held 14 rounds of negotiations on it so far.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24562.50, up by 105.35 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 24446.85 and 24563.45. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.14%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.66%, TCS up by 1.64%, Wipro up by 1.53% and NTPC up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.00%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.86%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.61%, Reliance Industries down by 0.48% and Adani Enterprises down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted rose 143.11 points or 0.62% to 23,170.57, Jakarta Composite gained 121.55 points or 1.69% to 7,317.57, Hang Seng advanced 14.98 points or 0.08% to 19,761.30 and Straits Times added 13.71 points or 0.36% to 3,799.84. On the other hand, KOSPI dropped 41.85 points or 1.67% to 2,458.25, Shanghai Composite weakened 2.4 points or 0.07% to 3,376.41 and Nikkei 225 was down by 1.73 points or 0% to 39,247.13.