Indian equity benchmarks rallied
over a per cent to hit record closing highs on Thursday, propelled by intense
buying in Realty, IT and TECK stocks after the US Federal Reserve kept its key
interest rate unchanged and signalled rate cuts next year. Markets made a
gap-up start and strengthened further as the session progressed, as traders
took encouragement with Asia Development Bank (ADB) stating that India's economy
would grow 6.7 per cent in Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), raising the estimate
from 6.3 per cent it made in September. The lender revised its estimate based
on India's higher-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth, of 7.6 per
cent, in the second quarter of FY24. Domestic sentiments remained firm with
provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showing that foreign
institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 4,711 crore on
December 13. Sentiments remained up-beat in second half of trading session,
taking support from Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery's statement that
agriculture will play a central role in India's development trajectory as
strong rural demand supports manufacturing and economic revival. Additional support
came with CEO of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) Mukesh
Aghi's statement that the relationship between India and the US has moved in a
positive direction ranging from trade to defence and the two nations have shown
a sense of deep understating of each other's differences. Adding to the
optimism, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) expects
world oil demand to grow to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024 for an
average of 104.4 million bpd, unchanged from its previous assessment. The oil
cartel said in a report that oil demand is expected to be supported by
resilient global GDP growth, amid continued improvements in economic activity
in China. Traders paid no heed towards data showing that India's inflation
based on wholesale price index (WPI) rose 0.26 per cent in November from a year
ago driven by the increase in prices of food articles, electricity, computer,
electronics & optical products, motor vehicles, other transport equipment
and other manufacturing etc. In October, the WPI inflation was -0.52 per cent.
Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 929.60 points or 1.34% to 70,514.20 and the CNX
Nifty was up by 256.35 points or 1.23% to 21,182.70.
The US markets ended higher on
Thursday, magnifying their previous session's rallies, after the Commerce
Department released a report showing an unexpected increase in U.S. retail
sales in November. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.3
percent in November after slipping by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent. Street
had expected retail sales to edge down by 0.1 percent, matching the dip
originally reported for the previous month. Excluding sales by motor vehicle
and parts dealers, retail sales inched up by 0.2 percent in November after
coming in unchanged in October. Ex-auto sales were expected to slip by 0.1
percent. Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a separate report showing
first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly decreased in the
week ended December 9th. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 202,000,
a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000. Street
had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 220,000
originally reported for the previous week. On the BSE sectoral front, Housing
stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the
Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 5.8 percent to a record closing high.
Substantial strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the
5.1 percent spike by the KBW Bank Index. The index reached its best closing
level in over nine months. Oil service stocks also moved sharply higher along
with the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index surging by
4.4 percent.
Crude oil futures ended sharply
higher on Thursday lifted by a weak dollar. The dollar tumbled on hopes for
interest rate cuts after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady,
as widely expected, and hinted at three rate cuts in 2024, citing easing
inflation and slowing growth. Besides, concerns about the security of Middle
East supplies following a tanker attack in the Red Sea off Yemen's coast
contributed as well to the uptick in oil prices. Benchmark crude oil futures
for January delivery rose $2.11 or about 3 percent to settle at $71.58 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery surged
$2.35 or about 3.16 percent to settle at $76.61 a barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Rupee ended higher on Thursday as
the greenback weakened in the overseas markets following signals that rate
hikes by the US Federal Reserve were over. Traders got support as Asia
Development Bank (ADB) said India's economy would grow 6.7 per cent in
Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), raising the estimate from 6.3 per cent it made
in September. The lender revised its estimate based on India's
higher-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth, of 7.6 per cent, in
the second quarter of FY24. Investors overlooked report that India's inflation
based on wholesale price index (WPI) rose 0.26 per cent in November from a year
ago. On the global front, sterling was on the front foot against the dollar on
Thursday ahead of a Bank of England meeting at which analysts expect
rate-setters to push back on expectations of early cuts in 2024, a different
stance from the Federal Reserve a day earlier. Finally, the rupee ended at
83.32 (Provisional), stronger by 8 paise from its previous close of 83.40 on
Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Thursday's data
were net buyers in equity segment, while they were net sellers in debt segment.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 19554.92 crore against gross
selling of Rs 14254.57 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 364.53 crore with gross sales of Rs 584.93 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 85.57 crore against gross selling of Rs
66.79 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Thursday with strong retail sales data for November and hopes of deeper rate
cuts next year underpinning sentiment. Asian markets are trading mostly in
green on Friday as investors await key economic data out of China, including
November house prices, industrial output, and retail sales data. Indian markets
ended at their record highs on Thursday amid the US Federal Reserve's dovish
pivot, and forecasts of rate cuts in 2024. Today, domestic indices are likely
to continue their previous session's bull run with optimistic start as the
prospect of deep rate cuts from central banks next year boosted global
sentiment. Traders will be taking encouragement with report that net direct tax
collection in the eight months of the current fiscal touched 58.34 per cent of
Budget Estimates (BE) at Rs 10.64 lakh crore. The Ministry of Finance said the
net tax collection for April-November stood at Rs 10.64 lakh crore, which is
23.4 per cent higher than the corresponding period of last year. Some support
will come with India Ratings' report that the liquidity conditions in the
Indian banking system are expected to see substantial improvement from January
2024, owing to a surge in government spending ahead of the vote on account and
Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) flows in equity markets. It added that the
liquidity surplus could touch up to Rs 50,000 crore. Meanwhile, the Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has released an Exposure
Draft proposing to increase the surrender value of non-linked life insurance
policies. The surrender value is the amount that the policyholder receives from
the insurance company if they decide to terminate their policy before its
maturity. There will be some buzz in the automobile industry stocks as S&P
Global Mobility forecast showed that India has been the fastest growing among
the world's 10 largest automobile markets this calendar year when compared to
the pre-pandemic year of 2019. India is the world's third largest light vehicle
(includes cars and light utility vehicles less than 6 tonnes) market, behind
China and the United States.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
21,182.70
|
21,101.14
|
21,237.59
|
BSE
Sensex
|
70,514.20
|
70,215.67
|
70,707.81
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
433.72
|
132.00
|
131.25
|
133.00
|
Power
Grid
|
299.72
|
232.45
|
229.84
|
236.34
|
NTPC
|
249.00
|
295.95
|
293.54
|
298.44
|
HDFC
Bank
|
175.86
|
1650.45
|
1643.99
|
1657.94
|
ICICI
Bank
|
163.18
|
1034.05
|
1023.54
|
1042.29
|
- Tata Steel has signed a MoU with
Imperial College London to set up a Centre for Innovation in Sustainable Design
and Manufacturing in London.
- UltraTech Cement is planning to
increase the overall share of green energy in its total energy mix to 85% by
2030.
- HCL Technologies has been
selected by the Department of Transport and Planning in Victoria, Australia to
automate the concession entitlement process for public transport users.
- SBI has executed transactions
documents to buy a 6.35 per cent stake in Canpac Trends, which is in the
business of paper packing solutions.