NEW DELHI: Nifty50 hit at a fresh record high on Friday as faster-than-expected economic growth in the September quarter added to optimism over the global interest rate outlook, and exit polls results indicate a high possibility of political stability after the General elections.
The BSE Sensex rallied over 400 points or 0.67% to 67,420 while Nifty50 topped 20,250 as it rose 0.6% or over 120 points in morning session.
The Indian economy expanded 7.6% in the September quarter, faster than the Reserve Bank of India’s estimate of 6.5%, led by manufacturing growth.
Meanwhile, Indian state exit polls showed a narrow advantage for India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the key states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, while the Indian National Congress is seen to be leading in Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
Barring Wipro, Titan, HCL Tech, and Infosys, all Sensex stocks opened in the green.
Meanwhile, on the sectoral front, Nifty Realty surged over 2%, and Nifty PSU Bank rose 0.75%. Also, Nifty Auto, Financial, FMCG, Media, Metal and Pharma rose in early trade. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap100 gained 0.66%, while Smallcap100 surged 0.7%.
Smallcap firm ITD Cementation rose 13% after the company secured a contract for civil and hydromechanical works of 500 MW hydel power, pumped storage project worth approximately Rs 1,001 crore excluding GST in Andhra Pradesh.
Thomas Cook (India) shares opened 5% lower after the offer for sale of shares by promoter Fairbridge Capital in Thomas Cook (India) Ltd received an overwhelming response from institutional investors, following which, it has decided to use the greenshoe option to sell additional shares.
Experts Take
“The market momentum which pushed the Nifty up by 6% in November is likely to be sustained since the incoming data and news are positive. First, the Q2 FY24 GDP growth rate at 7.6% has surpassed expectations. Second, the exit poll results indicate a high possibility of political stability after the General elections. The market will appreciate this,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
“Since manufacturing and construction have done well, the bulls will focus on capital goods stocks like L&T and construction-related stocks. Cement stocks may attract renewed buying interest. Autos will continue to do well,” Vijayakumar suggested.
Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, “According to the charts Nifty may be taking support at 20,100, followed by 20,050 and 20,000. On the higher side, 20,200 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 20,300 and 20,350.”
Global Markets
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5% after a surge of 7.3% last month, the most since January. Japan’s Nikkei was flat, having also jumped 8.5% in November in the best month in three years. Chinese bluechips dropped 0.6% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.4%.
Meanwhile, major Wall Street indexes saw a mixed performance on the last day of November, with the Dow surging almost 1.5% and the Nasdaq slipping after fresh inflation data was published.
FII/DII Tracker
FPIs bought Indian shares worth Rs 8,147.8 crore on Thursday on a net basis. Domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 780.3 crore.
FPIs also snapped a two-month selling streak in November, adding stocks worth Rs 9,001 crore.
Oil Prices Fall
Oil prices extended losses on Friday, and looked set for a sixth straight week of declines, as voluntary oil output cuts agreed by OPEC+ producers fell short of market expectations.
Brent crude futures for February fell 39 cents, or 0.5%, to $80.47 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $75.73.
Rupee Rises
The Indian rupee rose 9 paise to $83.28 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.09% to 103.4 level.
(With inputs from agencies)