Extending their winning streak to the seventh consecutive session, Indian equity benchmark ended at fresh record closing highs on Wednesday, driven by consistent buying from foreign institutional investors and a decline in crude oil prices. Foreign institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 5,223.51 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Markets made an optimistic start as traders took support with report that banks have written off Rs 10.57 lakh crore during the last five financial years, of which Rs 5.52 lakh crore was in respect of loans pertaining to large industries. The scheduled commercial banks have also recovered Rs 7.15 lakh crore of non-performing assets (NPAs) during the five-year period. Some support also came with the finance ministry's statement that the Central government's debt is estimated to moderate to 57.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY24 from 61.5% in FY21 when pandemic-related spending to provide succour to people and businesses led to a spike in its loan profile. However, markets trimmed some gains in second half of trading session as some concern came with report that India's gross foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows dropped almost 16% in the first six months of FY24 from a year before to $33.12 billion, the second straight fall in the first half of a fiscal. The minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the inflow have been impacted by the threat of global recession, economic crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, global protectionist measures and decline of real GDP growth rates of Singapore, USA and UK which are the major source countries for FDI. But, key indices regained traction in final hour of trade to end higher as some optimism remained among traders amid a private report stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) strong showing in the state elections has bolstered hopes of political stability at the Centre, alleviating investor concerns regarding political uncertainty in the months leading to the general elections next year, although some of them remain cautious about the potential impact of budget provisions on investor sentiment. Traders took a note of report that India and the UK have begun crunch-time talks to secure a landmark free-trade deal, as leaders on both sides seek to resolve outstanding issues before they face election battles next year. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 357.59 points or 0.52% to 69,653.73 and the CNX Nifty was up by 82.60 points or 0.40% to 20,937.70.

The US markets ended in red on Wednesday amid traders chose to lighten commitments due to concerns about possible overbought conditions in the market, and amid caution ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. Street currently expect employment to increase by 185,000 jobs in November after rising by 150,000 jobs in October, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.9 percent. However, markets moved higher in the session, reacting positively to a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by less than expected in the month of November. ADP said private sector employment rose by 103,000 jobs in November after climbing by a downwardly revised 106,000 jobs in October. Street had expected private sector employment to advance by 130,000 jobs compared to the addition of 113,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The weaker than expected private sector job growth added to recent optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates. On the sectoral front, energy stocks shed ground, weighed down by a sharp drop in oil prices amid concerns about the outlook for fuel demand and on data showing a larger than expected increase in gasoline inventory in the week ended December 1.

Crude oil futures ended deeply in red on Wednesday, extending recent session's losses, after data showing a large increase in gasoline inventories in the U.S. in the week ended December 1, raised concerns about the outlook for fuel demand. According to the data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gasoline stocks surged 5.4 million barrels last week, more than five times the expected increase. However, the EIA data also showed crude inventories dropped by 4.6 million barrels last week, much more than the expected drop of about 1.4 million barrels. Benchmark crude oil futures for January delivery fell $2.94 or about 4.1 percent to settle at $69.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery dropped $2.9 or about 3.76 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended higher against the US dollar on Wednesday helped by a bullish trend in domestic equities and sustained foreign fund inflows. Some support came in with report that banks have written off Rs 10.57 lakh crore during the last five financial years, of which Rs 5.52 lakh crore was in respect of loans pertaining to large industries. The scheduled commercial banks have also recovered Rs 7.15 lakh crore of non-performing assets (NPAs) during the five-year period. On the global front, the dollar held near a two-week high on Wednesday, while the euro was weak across the board as markets ramped up bets that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates as early as March. Finally, the rupee ended at 83.32 (Provisional), stronger by 5 paise from its previous close of 83.37 on Tuesday.

The FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net buyers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 17375.65 crore against gross selling of Rs 11580.45 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 2998.15 crore with gross sales of Rs 957.30 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 19.80 crore against gross selling of Rs 16.12 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday amid signs of a cooling jobs market reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates early next year. Asian markets are trading in red on Thursday ahead of Chinese trade figures due later in the day. Indian markets continued their bull run and ended higher on Wednesday as a rally in Adani group, FMCG, IT, and PSU banks aided sentiment. Today, markets are likely to make a cautious start tracking weakness across global markets as investors await jobless claims numbers in the US. Investors will be closely watching the ongoing Reserve Bank of India's December Policy meeting. While all eyes are on the announcements by Governor Shaktikanta Das on December 8. A private report expects the repo rate to remain unchanged and sees RBI maintaining a hawkish tone. Meanwhile, the government has sought parliamentary approval for an additional net spending of Rs 58,378 crore in the first batch of supplementary demand for grants in this financial year. However, a slump in crude oil prices can boost sentiment after a sharp fall in Brent to the lowest levels since June, on supply issues. Traders will be taking encouragement as Industry chamber CII expects the country's economy to grow at 6.8 per cent in the current fiscal and accelerate to 7 per cent in 2024-25, driven by the government's continued focus on infrastructure development and promotion of ease of doing business. Traders may take note of report that Fitch said supply chain diversification will help economies like India contribute more to global trade, as it projected nearshoring and friend-shoring to improve prospects for emerging market economies. Besides, to promote ease of doing business, capital markets regulator Sebi has decided to standardise the framework for calculation of available net distributable cash flows by REITs, InvITs and their respective holding companies. Banking stocks will be in focus after Moody's Investors Service issued a negative outlook for global banks in 2024, attributing the negativity to the repercussions of central banks' tightening of monetary policies. There will be some reaction in coal industry stocks as coal and power minister Pralhad Joshi said that the country's coal import has registered a drop of five per cent at 125.21 million tonnes (MT) in the April-September period of the ongoing financial year.

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• Sun Pharmaceutical Industries' subsidiary -- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. has entered into licensing agreement with Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc.
• HCL Technologies and Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna Group have extended their strategic IT and digital transformation partnership.
• Hero MotoCorp has entered into a partnership with Ather Energy for an interoperable fast-charging network in India.
• Power Grid Corporation of India has been declared as successful bidder under TBCB to establish Inter-State Transmission System Project in Karnataka on BOOT basis.