Market Highlights: Sensex soars 970 pts to close at record high; Nifty at 21,463; TCS, Infy, HCL Tech lead

Domestic benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50 continued their bull run on Friday, closing at new all-time highs on strong global cues after the US Federal Reserve signalled the end of its tightening cycle and raised expectations of a rate cut in March 2024. The Sensex zoomed 969.55 points to close at 71,483.75, and the Nifty rose 1.29% to 21,456.70. Midcaps and smallcaps ended in green but were overshadowed by the broader indices. The Nifty IT index soared 4% led by TCS, Infy, HCL Tech. Banks, metals and oil & gas were the other gainers today. The Indian rupee jumped 29 paise to close at 83.01 against US dollar.

Max Financial Services cracked the most, down as much as 4% to ₹969. HDFC Life Insurance Company lost 3% percent to its intra-day low of ₹685. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) also shed 2.5 percent to ₹795 and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance declined 2% to ₹520 in intra-day.

Auto components major Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd on Friday announced acquisitions of Australia's Lumen Group and Deltacarb SA of Switzerland for nearly ₹575 crore.

India's exports declined by 2.83% to $33.90 billion in November compared to $34.89 billion a year ago. Imports also declined to $54.48 billion. The country's trade deficit in November stood at $20.58 billion. (PTI)

The public sector lender plans to raise up to ₹2,500 crore via Basel III compliant bonds. It has got approval for a proposal to raise tranche I of Basel III compliant Tier II bonds with a base issue size of ₹1,000 crore and a green-shoe option to retain oversubscription of up to ₹1,500 crore.

The defence ministry on Friday inked over ₹5,300 crore deal with state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) for procurement of electronic fuzes for the Indian Army for a period of 10 years. (PTI)

Stocks in Asia and Europe traded higher following signals by the Federal Reserve that a move to rate cuts was as near as 2024.

MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index rose to its highest since early August, with Hong Kong stocks rallying as much as 3.4% before ending with 2% gains. Nikkei rose 0.9% Futures for European and US equities were steady after a technical indicator showed US stocks are in overbought levels. 

Morepen Lab after the short correction has bottomed out near 42 levels and currently has picked up momentum. It has also maintained a good support near 40 levels and has been consolidating for quite some time with gradual improvement in the bias, and we anticipate further upside movement in the coming days. The RSI is also indicating a trend reversal and showing strength for further upside moves. We suggest buying and accumulating this stock for an upside target of 65 while keeping the stop loss of 40.

Ireda shares declined 10% in today's trade, hitting ₹108.30 apiece due to profit booking. The stock which listed on the Indian exchanges on 29 November at ₹60 apiece hit a record high of ₹123.30.

Intense competition has revolutionised the concept of just-in-time delivery, a change driven by widespread mobile broadband access and a robust digital payment system. This competition between the two has ultimately led to better services for customers. (Read more)

Metal index gains around 2% with Nalco, Hindustan Copper, Adani Enterprises leading the pack.

Nifty IT index leaps 4.3%; HCL Tech, Infy, TCS, Tech Mahindra jump more than 4% each

Mass production of electric vehicles and the generation of solar and wind electricity have profoundly impacted the oil market. Companies transforming themselves from fossil fuel-based power producers to green energy storage giants are the ones to watch out for, says Equitymaster. (Read here)

Sensex up 460 points  at 71,000, Nifty above 21,300; Nifty IT zooms 4%  at noon

The biotechnology firm said it has unveiled EasyFourPol, the world's first fully liquid wP-IPV pentavalent vaccine. This vaccine offers protection against five life-threatening diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, and invasive infections caused by haemophilus influenza type B.

The Indian tech giant Infosys will announce its quarterly results for the October-December quarter on 11 January. The Q3 FY24 results will be announced after the board of directors meeting, set to begin on 10 January. The company had in the last quarter guided for a revenue growth between 1% and 2.5% in FY24.

The microfinance lender on Thursday launched its Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP). The floor price for the QIP has been set at ₹242.81 per share.

Indices maintained their upward trajectory fueled by dovish Federal Reserve. Sensex held steady near 71,000 and Nifty was above 21,300.

Nifty Metal index gains 1.6% led by National Aluminium, Hindustan Copper, Ratnamani which jumped 3-5%

Sensex jumps 500 points, hit 71000 with Infy, TCS, HCL Tech contributing to the rally as they rose 3-4% in trade

Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy share price jumped 5% to hit a 52-week high in early trade on Friday after the company announced the completion of a fundraise of ₹1,500 crore through qualified Institutions placement route. 

Smallcap and Midcap indices rally in line with the benchmark indices. The indices have been outperforming markets over the past few sessions. 

Nifty IT index extended Thursday's rally and were up 1.9% led by Infosys, Persistenrt Systems and L&T tech

The company said its wholly owned subsidiary received a ₹1,026-crore order for the appointment of advanced metering infrastructure service providers

The Ministry of Railways has awarded a substantial order for the manufacturing and supply of freight wagons. The contract is valued at approximately Rs. 1374.41 crore. The company is tasked with producing and delivering 3,400 BOXNS wagons.

Adani Port is set to divest a 49% stake in Adani Ennore Container Terminal for a total consideration of ₹247 crore. The company has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with Mundi Limited, an indirect subsidiary of Terminal Investment Limited and associate of Mediterranean Shipping Company for the divestment.

The People's Bank of China has executed its largest-ever one-year policy loan injection, aiming to bolster an economy grappling with a real estate downturn and sluggish demand.

The central bank provided commercial banks with 1.45 trillion yuan (approximately $204 billion) through its medium-term lending facility. This amount surpasses the anticipated maturity for this month by 800 billion yuan. (Bloomberg)

At 0922 am, Sensex was at 70,795, up 281 points from previous close led by Infosys, JSW Steel. Nift was at 21,270, up 87 points. 

Indices were higher in pre-opening session with Sensex up 270 points at 70,783.64 at 0905 am. Cipla, Hero Moto, PVR Inox in focus

ITC Ltd’s investors have little to complain about. Since its meeting with analysts in December 2021, the cigarette-maker’s shares have doubled. What is more, the strategies outlined by the company at its recent analysts’ meet point to solid long-term prospects.(read more)

Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Friday, on track to notch their first weekly rise in two months after benefiting from a bullish forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on oil demand for next year and a weaker dollar.

Brent futures rose 9 cents to $76.70 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 10 cents to $71.68.

Retail inflation in November rose at the quickest pace in three months, but a closer look tells a slightly different story.

The basket of goods and services used to compute retail inflation now has nearly 49.3% items that are within the central bank’s inflation tolerance range of 2-6%, a Mint analysis showed. (Read more)

Nifty after the Bullish Hammer pattern on the daily chart opened with a huge gap up to scale new record high once again to touch 21,210 levels during the intraday session to indicate a clear breakout above the 21000 zone. With the index entering a new territory the next target expected is around 21,600 and further ahead 22,300 levels in the coming days."

"Bank Nifty has indicated a clear breakout above the crucial 47,500 levels to strengthen the trend overall and has opened the gates for further targets of 49,200 and 50,000 levels in the coming days. From current levels, the zone near 46,300 level shall be maintained as the important support zone from current levels."

Parekh recommended three intraday stocks for today — GAIL, L&T Finance and AU Small Finance Bank.

India’s benchmark stock indices rallied to fresh highs on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve brought the curtains down on interest rate hikes and indicated the possibility of three rate cuts in 2024.

BSE’s 30-stock Sensex jumped 929.60 points or 1.34% to close at 70,514.2 points. Nifty 50 index rose 1.23% or 256.35 points to close at an all-time high of 21,182.7, after touching an intra-day peak of 21,210.9.

Hero MotoCorp, Panacea Biotech, BHEL, Vedanta, Texmaco, Infosys, PVR, Cipla are some of the stocks to watch in trade today.

Asian markets are trading higher, taking cues from Wall Street's overnight gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi saw modest increases, while Australian shares hit a four-month high, buoyed by strong jobs data and US Federal Reserve's rate cut outlook for next year.