Sensex, Nifty end in green; Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, NTPC top gainers

Benchmark indices closed higher on Wednesday, extending the previous session’s rally amid lower level of inflation on domestic front and better-than-expected inflation readings from the US.

Sensex climbed 144.61 points or 0.23 per cent to end at 62,677.91. During the day, it rose 301.81 points or 0.48 per cent to 62,835.11. Nifty advanced 52.30 points or 0.28 per cent to end at 18,660.30.

Tech Mahindra (1.84%), Tata Steel (1.66%), NTPC (1.63%), IndusInd Bank (1.44%) and State Bank of India (1.44%) were the top Sensex gainers.

Nestle (1.82%), ICICI Bank (1.16%), Airtel (1.13%), Asian Paints (0.95%) and Hindustan Unilever (0.89%) were among the Sensex losers.

Prashanth Tapse – Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said, “All eyes will be on the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on interest rate later in the day, as the outcome would set the tone for the rest of the equity markets across the globe.”

Market cap of BSE-listed firms settled at Rs 219.25 lakh crore.  BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 154 points and 201 points, respectively.

Market breadth was positive with 2,034 shares closing higher against 1498 stocks falling on BSE. 145 shares were unchanged.

Metals, consumer durables and capital goods shares were the top sectoral gainers with their BSE indices rising 320 points, 347 points and 323 points.

“Better-than-expected inflation readings from major global economies, combined with increased appetite for IT stocks, aided the domestic market’s bullishness. US CPI inflation easing to 7.1 per cent in November will lower the chances of the Fed being hawkish. Though the Fed is largely expected to raise rates by 50 basis points, their comments on future inflation and rate actions would dominate market movements,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 619.92 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee closed 15 paise higher at 82.45 against the US dollar as a positive trend in domestic equities and easing inflationary pressures strengthened investor sentiment.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened flat at 82.60 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 82.40 and a low of 82.71.

Previous session 

Indian benchmark indices closed higher on Tuesday amid firm global market trends. Retail inflation fell below the RBI’s upper tolerance level of 6 per cent for the first time in 11 months in November which boosted sentiment on Dalal Street.

Sensex rose 402 points to close at 62,533. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 13 advanced while 17 declined. Nifty too advanced 48.85 points to end at 18,609.35, with 27 of its constituents closing in the red.

Global markets  

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the positive territory. Equity exchanges in Europe were trading lower in mid-session deals. The US markets had ended higher on Tuesday. International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.06 per cent to $80.63 per barrel.