Bourses trade at day’s high levels in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded at day’s high levels in late afternoon session following gains in TECK, IT and banking sectors stocks. Traders took note of report that Chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on December 5 revealed that deregulation is going to be major theme of the upcoming Economic Survey. Nageswaran said that deregulation is required at the state and local governments level to boost the participation of female workforce. Meanwhile, it is widely anticipated that the RBI will maintain the repo rate at the current level of 6.5%, marking the eleventh consecutive meeting without any changes.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as geopolitical concerns in the Middle East and Ukraine as well as the political chaos in South Korea and France continue to weigh on the markets. European markets were trading higher as President Emmanuel Macron seeks a way out of France's political crisis. Prime Minister Michel Barnier is expected to resign later today after being ousted in a no-confidence vote over a budget dispute. That makes him the shortest serving prime minister in modern French history.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82012.05, up by 1055.72 points or 1.30% after trading in a range of 80467.37 and 82019.83. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 2.06%, IT up by 1.99%, Bankex up by 1.01%, Telecom up by 1.00% and Metal was up by 0.93%, while Realty down by 0.39% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 2.66%, Infosys up by 2.65%, TCS up by 2.56%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.02% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.81%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.34% and Asian Paints down by 0.31% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, the World Bank in its latest International Debt Report has showed that India's total external debt surged to $646.79 billion in 2023, a $31 billion increase, while interest payment also jumped from $15.08 billion in 2022 to $22.54 billion in 2023.

According to the report, the long-term debt stocks have risen 7 per cent to $498 billion in 2023, while short-term debt stocks declined marginally to $126.32 billion in 2023. The external debt stock as a percentage of exports was 80 per cent, while debt servicing was 10 per cent of exports in 2023.

The report further noted that net debt inflows during the year worked out to be $33.42 billion, while the net equity inflows was higher at $46.94 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, the International Debt Report (IDR) is a longstanding annual publication of the World Bank featuring external debt statistics and analysis for the low- and middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debtor Reporting System (DRS).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24761.00, up by 293.55 points or 1.20% after trading in a range of 24295.55 and 24772.15. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.70%, Titan Company up by 2.66%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.57%, TCS up by 2.50% and Wipro up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.45%, SBI Life  down by 1.18%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.59%, NTPC down by 0.35% and Cipla down by 0.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 119.21 points or 0.3% to 39,395.60, Straits Times rose 20.17 points or 0.53% to 3,820.11, Taiwan Weighted added 12.61 points or 0.05% to 23,267.94 and Shanghai Composite was up by 4.21 points or 0.12% to 3,368.86. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite plunged 11.08 points or 0.15% to 7,315.68, KOSPI dropped 22.15 points or 0.91% to 2,441.85 and Hang Seng was down by 182.02 points or 0.93% to 19,560.44.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 5.84 points or 0.07% to 8,341.65, France’s CAC rose 42.5 points or 0.58% to 7,345.78 and Germany’s DAX was up by 42.71 points or 0.21% to 20,274.85.