Sensex climbs 300 pts to 79,800, Nifty at 24,250; IT, auto, financials up

Benchmark Indian equity indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, after a lower open, were trading with slight gains amid mixed global cues.

At 10 AM, the BSE Sensex was up 41.47 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 79,527; while the Nifty 50 was at 24,159, up 11.65 points, or 0.05 per cent.

More than half the stocks on the BSE Sensex were trading in the red after the opening bell. Losses were led by Asian Pains, (down over 7.31 per cent), followed by Axis Bank, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, and Reliance Industries. On the flip side, gains were led by Tata Motors (1.62 per cent), Power Grid Corp., Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra & Mahindra, and SBI.

On the Nifty 50, 16 out of the 50 stocks were trading with gains, while the red declined. Gains were led by Tata Motors (up 1.81 per cent), Power Grid Corp., Maruti Suzuki India, Trent, and Mahindra & Mahindra, while lossed were capped by Asian Paint (down 7.94 per cent), followed by Axis Bank, HDFC Life, ONGC, and Grasim Industries.

Across sectors, barring the Auto and IT indices, which were up 0.79 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively, all other sectoral indices were trading with cuts. The Oil and Metal indices were the top laggards, declining 1.18 per cent and 1.13 per cent, respectively.

Other top laggards included the Consumer Durables, PSU Bank, Media, and financials indices.

In the broader markets, meanwhile, the Nifty Smallcap 100 was down 1.17 per cent, and the Nifty Midcap 100 was down 0.82 per cent.

With Republican candidate Donald Trump emerging as the President-elect of the US, and the party expected to secure a majority in both the houses of the government there, coupled with the Chinese government refraining from announcing any direct measures to support its sagging economy, all eyes in the domestic markets would be trained on the actions of foreign institutional investors, who have continued to make a tactical play for the Chinese markets in relation to India.

On Friday, benchmark equity indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, had ended in the red for the second consecutive session.

The BSE Sensex shed 55.47 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 79,486.32, while the Nifty 50 declined 51.15 points or 0.21 per cent to 24,148.20.

As many as 27 out of 50 NSE Nifty 50 constituent stocks ended in the red, led by Trent, Coal India, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, and State Bank of India, with losses extending up to 3.50 per cent.

Conversely, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, and Infosys were among the 23 constituent stocks of Nifty 50 that managed to settle in the green on Friday, with gains extending up to 2.40 per cent.

The broader markets settled in the red. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 1.33 per cent and 1.70 per cent, respectively.

All sectoral indices also ended in the red on Friday, except for Nifty IT, Pharma and FMCG. Nifty Realty, and Media were the top laggards among the sectoral indices, falling by over 2 per cent each.

India Inc continued to grapple with muted revenue growth in the September 2024 quarter (Q2FY25) and witnessed a decline in margins and profits. The headwinds were especially severe for non-financial companies, while banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) firms significantly outpaced the rest of the corporate sector.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region fell on Monday after China’s October inflation numbers came in lower than expected.

The country’s inflation rate declined to 0.3 per cent, missing expectations of 0.4 per cent and also lower than the 0.4 per cent seen in September.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 2.23 per cent, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was ahead by 0.32 per cent. However, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.21 per cent.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 0.33 per cent, while the broad-based Topix slipped 0.26 per cent.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.83 per cent, and the small-cap Kosdaq was 1.74 per cent lower.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started was down 0.39 per cent.

That apart, the US S&P 500 zoomed past 6,000 points on Friday to a new record while Treasury yields retreated, as investors again cheered Donald Trump’s decisive victory, although disappointment about China’s latest fiscal support dampened the mood elsewhere.

A day after the Federal Reserve delivered a quarter-point rate cut, as anticipated, the focus returned to the fallout of Tuesday’s US presidential election and headlines out of Beijing.

The offshore yuan weakened, while US-listed shares of Chinese firms and China exposed-sectors in Europe sank as investors took in news that China’s stimulus did not directly inject money into the struggling economy.

But investors on Wall Street shrugged off frustration about the lack of a Chinese fiscal bazooka and bought US stocks. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.6 per cent to cross the 6,000-point mark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2 per cent. The S&P 500 and the Dow are set for their best week in a year.

In addition, the Republican party won not only the White House this week, but also control of the Senate, and may win control of the House of Representatives – a similar scenario, Colas said, to the November 2016 election outcome that preceded the S&P 500’s 22 per cent gain in 2017. Investors are betting that a Trump administration will bring lighter regulation and tax cuts that could boost the US economy.

Outside the United States the mood was more subdued. A MSCI index for world stocks was flat, but still close to a record high, while the pan-European STOXX 600 lost 0.7 per cent.

Germany’s DAX stock index fell 0.8 per cent a day after posting its best daily performance of 2024 so far, helped by expectations that Germany could scrap its debt brake.

China unveiled a 10 trillion yuan ($1.40 trillion) debt package to ease local government financing strains and stabilise flagging economic growth.

Finance Minister Lan Fo’an said more stimulus was coming, with some analysts saying Beijing may not want to fire all its financial weapons before Trump takes over officially in January.

US Treasury yields fell after Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday signaled continued, patient policy easing.

The Fed’s rate cut followed a quarter-point cut from the Bank of England and a large half-point cut by Sweden, also on Thursday.

Ten-year Treasury yields fell 8.3 basis points to 4.343 per cent, reversing sharp rises following the US election result.

Powell said Tuesday’s election result would have no “near-term” impact on US monetary policy.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, rose to 105.04, following a 0.7 per cent drop on Thursday, its biggest since Aug. 23.

Bitcoin rallied past $80,000 for the first time, boosted by President-elect Donald Trump’s embrace of digital assets and the prospect of a Congress featuring pro-crypto lawmakers.

The cryptocurrency climbed as much as 4.7 per cent to an unprecedented $80,092 on Sunday.

After a roller-coaster week, gold fell 0.8 per cent to $2,684.99. It slumped more than 3 per cent on Wednesday, but bounced 1.8 per cent overnight. Last week it surged to an all-time high of $2,790.15.

Brent crude oil futures pared losses during London trade and were last down 2.4 per cent at $73.80, US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.9 per cent to $70.26.