Nifty hovers above 23,800; European shares trade mixed

The equity barometers continued to trade with moderate gains in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 23,800 level after hitting the day's low of 23,701.05 in mid-morning trade. Pharma, auto and healthcare shares advanced while metal, oil & gas and PSU bank stocks declined.

At 13:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was advanced 341.54 points or 0.44% to 78,814.02. The Nifty 50 index added 90.10 points or 0.38% to 23,840.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.07% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.25%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,945 shares rose and 1,927 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.

 

Indian Rupee hit a fresh record low against the US dollar on Friday. The currency opened at 85.3100 and touched a fresh all-time low of 85.8075 and is currently trading at 85.6975.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 5.37% to 13.28.

Gainers & Losers

Dr. Reddys Laboratories (up 2.69%), IndusInd Bank (up 2.66%), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (up 2.56%), Tata Motors (up 1.87%) and Bajaj Finance (up 1.65%) were major Nifty gainers.

Hindalco Industries (down 1.17%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (down 1.14%), Coal India (down 0.89%), Bharat Electronics (BEL) (down 0.86%) and Tata Steel (down 0.83%) were major Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Gensol Engineering jumped 5.77% after the company secured an EPC contract worth Rs 897.47 crore from NTPC Renewable Energy Development for 225 MW grid-connected solar PV projects at GSECL Solar Park (Stage-III), Khavda, Gujarat. The project includes three years of operation and maintenance.

Power Mech Projects added 1.41% after the company secured an Rs 186 crore order from Jaiprakash Power Ventures. Under the order, it will provide field operation and maintenance services for the 2 x 660 MW Jaypee Nigrie Super Thermal Power Plant in Nigrie, Madhya Pradesh, for the next five-year period, starting from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2029.

Dixon Technologies (India) fell 1.28%. The company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Dixon Electro Manufacturing, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cellecor Gadgets for the manufacturing of refrigerators and related components for Cellecor.

Thomas Cook (India) advanced 2.78% after the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Sterling Holiday Resorts has announced the opening of Sterling Bagh Ranthambore, its 10th wildlife resort and 7th property in Rajasthan.

Garware Technical Fibres rallied 3.60% after the company received an in-principle approval letter from Bombay Stock Exchange (NSE) for bonus issue in the ratio of 4:1.

Global Markets:

European market traded mixed while Most Asian stocks advanced on Friday, as some markets returned from the Boxing Day holiday and investors assessed economic data from the region.

Chinas industrial profits extended declines to a fourth straight month, dropping 7.3% in November from a year earlier, signaling that Beijings stimulus measures have yet to meaningfully stem the slide in corporate earnings.

Investors assessed November inflation numbers from Tokyo, which saw its headline inflation rate come in at 3%, compared to 2.6% in October. Core inflation, which excludes costs of fresh food, rose to 2.4%. Tokyos inflation numbers are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Separately, Japans cabinet approved a historic budget of $732 billion for the fiscal year beginning in April, while restricting new bond issuance to its lowest level in 17 years, media reports stated. The approved budget is 2.6% larger than the current years budget. Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased earlier losses and squeezed out a small gain in thin trading Thursday after the markets strong back-to-back gains at the start of the holiday week.

The Dow closed the day 28.77 points, or 0.07%, higher to 43,325.80 after losing about 182 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 dipped 2.45 points, or 0.04%, to 6,037.59. The Nasdaq Composite also ended the day lower, falling less than 0.1% to 20,020.36.

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