The equity benchmark continued to trade with decent gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 314.32 points or 0.70% to 44,946.97. The Nifty 50 index added 86.55 points or 0.66% to 13,220.45.
The Sensex hit a record high of 45,033.19 and the Nifty hit a record high of 13,250.30 in morning trade today.
In the broader markets, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.45% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.33%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1594 shares rose and 978 shares fell. A total of 164 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 3,637.42 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,439.74 crore in the Indian equity market on 3 December 2020, provisional data showed.
RBI MPC meet outcome:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 4% while maintaining its 'accommodative' stance after the conclusion of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting today, 4 December 2020.
The RBI governor said inflation is likely to remain elevated with some relief in the winter months. "CPI inflation is seen at 6.8 percent for Q3FY21 and projected CPI inflation is at 5.8 percent for Q4FY21. For H1FY22, projected CPI inflation is seen at 5.2-4.6 percent with risks broadly balanced," he added.
The governor said the recovery in rural demand is expected to strengthen further, while urban demand is also gaining momentum. Consumers remain optimistic about the outlook and business sentiment of manufacturing firms is gradually improving. Fiscal stimulus is increasingly moving beyond being supportive of consumption and liquidity to supporting growth-generating investment.
On the other hand, private investment is still slack and capacity utilization has not fully recovered. While exports are on an uneven recovery, the prospects have brightened with the progress on the vaccines.
"Taking these factors into consideration, real GDP growth is projected at (-) 7.5% in 2020-21: (+) 0.1% in Q3:2020- 21 and (+) 0.7% in Q4:2020-21; and 21.9% to 6.5% in H1:2021- 22, with risks broadly balanced," he said in a statement.
Economy:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday reportedly said that the Indian economy, severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, is gradually recovering. The economy recovered faster than expected in the September quarter as a pick-up in manufacturing helped GDP clock a lower contraction of 7.5% and held out hopes for further improvement on better consumer demand.
Coronavirus Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 65,132,317 with 1,504,443 deaths. India reported 416,082 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 139,188 deaths while 9,016,289 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Auto index rose 1.02% to 9,339.25. The index has gained 6.88% in six sessions.
Bharat Forge (up 2.69%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.15%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.78%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.60%), Maruti Suzuki (up 0.55%), Tata Motors (up 0.57%), Ashok Leyland (up 0.53%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.25%) advanced while TVS Motor Company slipped 0.79%.
Global markets:
Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading higher on Friday. Hong Kong shares of Chinese chipmaker SMIC and oil producer CNOOC declined after the Pentagon announced that the two firms were added to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies.
In the US, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at a record high on Thursday, lifted by Tesla Inc, while the S&P 500 fell after a report that Pfizer Inc had slashed the target for the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86 points, supported by a jump in Boeing shares.
Investors awaited a key November jobs report to gauge the pace of labor market recovery in the face of a worsening pandemic. The latest weekly jobless claims hit a pandemic-era low, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 712,000 last week, compared with 787,000 a week earlier. Still, the claims remained well above the pre-pandemic record.
Investors closely monitored progress toward a stimulus deal as lawmakers make a strong push to break a stalemate over how to boost an economy that continues to be hurt by the pandemic.
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