Market Closing Highlights: Sensex, Nifty extend rally, close at fresh highs; midcaps, smallcaps also gain

India's equity benchmark notched another day of record gains, with Sensex and Nifty closing at fresh highs. Investors remained bullish following better than expected GDP data and the ruling party winning key state elections, providing for political stability.

At close today, Sensex was up 358 points at 69,653.73, while the Nifty rose 83 points to end the day at 20,937.70.

Elsewhere, stocks held steady.

Germany's DAX edged 0.1% higher to 16,542.15 and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.2% to 7,397.84. In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,521.99.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1%. In Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.8% to 16,573.00, while the Shanghai Composite edged 0.1% lower, to 2,968.93.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 2% to 33,445.90. In Seoul, the Kospi was up less than 0.1%, at 2,495.38. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.7% to 7,178.40.

Back home, on the Nifty, Wipro, LTIMindtree, ITC, L&T and TCS were the top gainers, while Adani Enterprises, Eicher Motors, Cipla, NTPC and UltraTech Cement fell the most.

The BSE Midcap index hit a fresh record high of 35,245.77, closing 0.2% higher at 35,115.78. BSE Smallcap index also ended higher at 41,174.45.

Europe's main stock markets opened higher Wednesday on hopes that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the new year.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.2% to 7,508.04 points. The Paris CAC 40 firmed 0.1% to 7,392.97 points and Frankfurt's DAX index also gained 0.1% to 16,550.01.

Shares of state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOCL), have jumped between 19% and 44% in the past month, easily beating the benchmark Nifty50 index.

Investors are excited about the subdued outlook for crude oil prices and expectations of a strong December quarter on the back robust marketing margins even as refining margins have softened sequentially. 

Prices of Brent crude have dropped from a high of around $95 a barrel in September and are now hovering around $77.

For now, concerns that crude prices will rise in the near term have been mitigated. In a meeting on 30 November, Opec+ agreed to cut oil production by about 2.2 million barrels a day for the first quarter of 2024. Opec+ comprises the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia.

Zydus Lifesciences Limited has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture and market Methylene Blue Injection, 10mg/2ml and 50mg/5ml. 

Zydus’ Methylene Blue Injection, 10mg/2ml and 50mg/5ml, is the generic version of the Reference Listed Drug (RLD) ProvayBlue Injection.

Methylene Blue Injection is an oxidation-reduction agent indicated for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with acquired methemoglobinemia. Methylene Blue Injection, 10mg/2ml and 50mg/5ml had an annual sale of approximately $73.4 mn in the US for the 12-month period ended October 2023.

Griping about missing out on allotment in any of the four initial public offerings, including Tata Technologies or Ireda, that saw significant listing gains last week? Don't worry, you are still a gainer. (Read here)

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) on Wednesday announced a joint venture with Parisian footwear brand Christian Louboutin.

Shares were bought at an average price of ₹1,400 apiece on Tuesday, according to data available with BSE.

The central government on Wednesday sought the parliament's approval for an additional spending of ₹1.29 trillion Indian rupees for the current fiscal year that ends on March 31.

The government said the net additional spending would be ₹58,378 crore, while the rest would be accommodated by reshuffling expenses.

Ashok Leyland has said that it has invested approximately ₹662.5 crore in Optare Plc. UK by way of equity shares as first tranche. Consequent to the allotment by the Board of Directors of Optare Plc., the shareholding of the company in Optare Plc. has increased from 91.63% to 92.19%.

Bitcoin traded at around $43,560, after pushing as high as $44,490 overnight, on expectations that Fed will cut rates and on speculation US regulators will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds.

WiseX, India’s leading neo-realty alternative investment platform, has launched Securitised Debt Instrument (SDI) through its debut opportunity - Navratna SDI. The SDI securities have received an ‘A’ rating from Acuité Ratings & Research Limited and have been listed on the BSE. 

The company aims to raise Rs15 crore through this Navratna SDI opportunity, which will be used to meet the funding requirements of a leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) provider, Svaryu Energy.

Oil prices steadied, after falling for four days, as US supplies and doubts over whether OPEC will be able to deliver on its production cuts raised concerns of oversupply.

Brent traded above $77 a barrel after declining by more than 7% over the previous four sessions, while West Texas Intermediate was close to $72.

Market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies rose to ₹348.64 trillion in early deals on Wednesday, from ₹346.47 trillion in the previous trading session, as benchmark indices hit fresh highs for the third straight day on Wednesday.

In opening deals, Sensex jumped 303.25 points to a new record high of 69,599.39, while the Nifty added 100.05 points to hit fresh peak of 20,955.15.

US-based analytics company FICO, the maker of FICO credit score used by lenders to assess credit worthiness of borrowers, on Tuesday launched its cloud-based platform in India with lenders like HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, being the early users.

Yields on Indian government bonds drifted lower on Wednesday, as the fall in US yields, including the 10-year that eased below the crucial 4.20% mark, boosted sentiment.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield was at 7.2491%, having ended the previous session at 7.2571%.

Himadri Speciality Chemical Ltd on Wednesday said it will invest ₹4,800 crore to set up a manufacturing facility for Lithium-ion battery components. The project will be implmented in phases over the next five to six years.

The investment will be largely funded by internal accruals and the balance from debt, the company said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

India's benchmark indexes opened at fresh record highs for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, led by energy stocks on moderating crude prices.

The Nifty50 rose 0.49% to 20,956.55 points, while the Sensex was up 0.46% at an all-time high of 69,614.04 as of 0917am IST.

On the Nifty, Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, Asian Paints, Britannia Industries and HDFC Life were the top gainers, while Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, Hindalco, SBI Life Insurance and Maruti Suzuki fell the most.

In the pre-open, the Sensex was up 211.05 points at 69,507.19, while the Nifty rose 112.40 points to 20,967.50.

On Tuesday, Bank Nifty scaled a new all time high at 47,230 levels and witnessed minor pullback in the second half to close in a doji candle near all time high.

We expect profit booking from the higher range of range of 47,300-47,500 being the pivot resistance and fill the multiple gap levels on daily charts.

RSI has moved to 81 levels and witnessed corrective action from the higher range on various counts and expect volatility to increase with respect to the weekly expiry.

Bank Nifty 48,000 CE has the highest OI while on the downside it has the strike has moved higher to 47,000 for the put OI.

On Tuesday, Nifty50 traded volatile with positive bias and made a intraday double bottom at 20,700 levels and closed near the high point of the day.

The immediate support levels will be 20,500 followed by the previous tops of 20,250 levels being the previous all time high.

RSI and other key technical indicators are near the high point of the range and one can expect a minor pullback and retracement from the current range.

Highest call OI has moved to 21,000 strike while on the downside the highest put OI has moved higher to 20,700 for the weekly expiry.

Adani Group stocks with its 10 listed companies accounted for over 65% of the Tuesday's overall stock market gains. The surge also erased much of the 10 stocks’ losses since the scathing Hindenburg report in January. 

On a day the Indian stock market gained ₹2.9 trillion, investors in Adani group companies turned wealthier by ₹1.9 trillion, marking the biggest single-day jump in value for the conglomerate.

Three Adani companies shot up 20% each to hit their upper circuit limits, even as the group’s market cap neared ₹14 trillion. Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Energy Solutions Ltd and Adani Total Gas Ltd were locked at their upper limits of ₹1,348.50, ₹1,084.40, and ₹878.70, respectively,

HDFC Bank, SBI, Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Mamaearth, among other stocks, will be in focus today.

Delta Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance, India Cements and Zee Entertainment Enterprises are in the F&O ban list for 6 December.

GIFT Nifty futures traded 37 points higher at 21,036.50, indicating a positive start for Indian indices in Wednesday.

Indian equities saw another day of gains, with benchmark Sensex and Nifty closing at fresh record highs for the second day in a row on Tuesday. 

The Sensex jumped 431.02 points to end the day at 69,296.14, while the Nifty added as up 168.30 points to close at 20,855.10.

Asian equity markets were higher on Wednesday as data from the US showed labour-market slowdown reinforcing bets that the Federal Reserve will cut key policy rates next year to prevent a recession.

Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday supported by gains in US high-tech shares as investors digested data suggesting a slowing US labour market.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.57% at 32,961.69 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 0.36%.

Stocks in Australia and South Korea gained, while Hong Kong edged higher.

Treasuries steadied at the open, after rallying in the previous session with benchmark US 10-year yields that briefly topped 5% in October breaking below 4.2% on Tuesday. Yields on Australian and New Zealand tracked the declines.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 79.72 points at 36,124.72, the S&P 500 lost 2.59 points to end at 4,567.19 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 44.42 points to 14,229.91.