Sensex, Nifty advance on gains in IT, FMCG stocks

Stock market barometers Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher on November 15 as rise in wholesale inflation capped early gains despite a positive trend in global markets.

The 30-share index settled 32.02 points or 0.05% higher at 60,718.71 with half of its constituents ending in green.

The broad based Nifty edged up 6.70 points or 0.04% to close at 18,109.45.

PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3%, followed by ITC, Asian Paints, Nestle India and Kotak Bank.

TCS rose by 0.83% while Infosys inched up 0.31%. HUL, Dr. Reddy’s and Sun Pharma were also among the gainers.

On the other hand, Tata Steel fell the most by 3.24%, followed by M&M which declined 1.19%. Bajaj Auto, Reliance, SBI and Bharti Airtel declined.

Indian markets opened on a positive note on Monday despite mixed cues from Asian market peers where Chinese shares traded lower post better than expected consumer spend data, said Narendra Solanki, head – equity research (fundamental), Anand Rathi.

During the afternoon session markets lost initial gains and traded marginally in green with buying in healthcare, IT, and tech stocks.

“Upside remain capped as WPI inflation in October surged to 12.54% from 10.66% a month ago and 1.31% in October 2020,” he noted.

The wholesale price-based inflation spiked mainly due to rise in prices of manufactured products and crude petroleum. It has remained in double digit for the seventh consecutive month beginning April. Sectorally, BSE healthcare, FMCG, consumer durables and IT indices rose up to 2.09%, while metal, basic materials, telecom and energy indices fell up to 2.35%.

Broader midcap rose 0.41%, while smallcap fell 0.19%.

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said. “Domestic market was trading with a negative bias, between gains and losses, tracking volatile global markets and in the wake of domestic inflation data. On the contrary, China’s industrial output growth accelerated to 3.5% YoY despite fresh Covid restrictions and supply shortages, thereby easing concerns over a global economic slowdown.” Ajit Mishra, vp – research, Religare Broking said that upbeat global cues triggered a firm start but profit taking across sectors trimmed the gains as the day progressed.

“Markets are broadly in a consolidation phase so the prevailing volatility is normal. In absence of any major domestic event, global cues will dictate the trend in the coming sessions,” Mr. Mishra said.

Globally, shares in Europe and Asia advanced ahead of virtual talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.