The key equity barometers continued to trade with minor gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty, however, managed to hold above the 18,250 level. Markets in Europe and Asia edged higher.
At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 119.87 points or 0.20% to 61,538.83. The Nifty 50 index added 29.35 points or 0.16% to 18,273.55.
Apollo Hospitals (up 2.57%), JSW Steel (up 1.43%), Bajaj Finance (up 1.36%), SBI (up 1.32%) and HDFC Life (up 1.21%) were the top Nifty gainers.
Power Grid Corp (down 2.36%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.10%), SBI Life (down 0.66%), Adani Ports (down 0.51%) and IndusInd Bank (down 0.38%) were the top Nifty losers.
The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.60%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1892 shares rose, and 1515 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Vedanta declined 0.45%. The diversified minerals company on Tuesday announced its third interim dividend of Rs 17.50 per equity share. The dividend will lead to a total payout of Rs 6,505 crore to shareholders. The record date for the purpose of payment of dividend is 30 November 2022.
FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) skid 2.77%. Nykaa announced the resignation of its chief financial officer (CFO) Arvind Agarwal effective close of business hours on 25 November 2022, to pursue other opportunities in the digital economy & start-up space.
Siemens shed 0.64%. Siemens reported profit after tax from continuing operations of Rs. 392 crore for the fourth quarter of financial year 2022 ended 30 September 2022, up 23% over the same period last year. Revenue from continuing operations stood at Rs. 4,237 crore, up 11% over the same quarter in the preceding year.
Adani Enterprises declined 2.39%. The company said that its board will meet on Friday, 25 November 2022, to consider and approve the proposal of raising of funds by way of equity issue.
Global markets:
European markets advanced across the board while Asian stocks traded in the green on Wednesday as investors await euro zone economic data and the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes.
Global markets have taken some heart from recent, lower-than-expected consumer and wholesale inflation prints in the United States, prompting bets that the Fed would have to slow its aggressive interest rate hikes.
European investors will be assessing Wednesday's flash November PMI (purchasing managers' index) readings from the euro zone for indications on the health of economic activity across the 19-member bloc.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand bank delivered a 75 basis point hike, matching expectations, and the biggest rate hike ever in the central bank's history. It is the ninth consecutive hike since the RBNZ first started its rate hike cycle in October 2021, five of which were 50 basis point hikes. New Zealand's Inflation currently stands at 7.2%, just below three-decade highs.
Singapore's core inflation rate eased 0.2% to 5.1% in October on an annualized basis, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) reported - after seeing the same index at 5.3% in September. Inflation rate for all items also eased to 6.7% in October on an annualized basis after seeing a rate of 7.5% in September.
MTI said the easing was due to smaller increases in goods and services, as well as gas and electricity prices.
Singapore's economy is projected to grow around 3.5% in 2022, according to forecasts from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, citing a softening external demand outlook following Europe's energy crunch and China's continued Covid-related restrictions.
The figure is a narrowed estimate from its previous projected range of between 3% and 4% and reflects the third quarter's 4.1% annualized growth and 1.1% growth from the previous quarter. The ministry also said it sees the nation's 2023 GDP growth to be between 0.5% to 2.5%.
US stocks rallied on Tuesday as Wall Street bet that interest rate hikes and inflation will ease heading into the end of the year. The stock market will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will close early on Friday.
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