Notwithstanding the muted start, equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty closed with marginal gains due to strong foreign investors buying and short-covering on expiry day of November F&O contracts. While BSE Sensex advanced 86.53 points or 0.13 per cent to 66,988.44, NSE Nifty gained 36.55 points or 0.18 per cent to 20,133.15. They both ruled in the negative territory for large part of the day.

₹8,150 cr from FPIs

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers. They bought equities worth ₹8,147.85 core, show exchange’s provisional data.

The broad market, too, sustained the positive momentum with BSE SmallCap gaining 0.96 per cent, BSE MidCap (0.83 per cent) and BSE 500 (0.48 per cent).

Except BSE Utilities and BSE Bankex, all the sectoral indices ended in green. BSE Healthcare (1.66 per cent), Consumer Durables (1.61 per cent), Realty (1.52 per cent) and Industrials (1.48 per cent) remained the top gainers.

Within the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement (3.14 per cent), Sun Pharma (2.19 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.91 per cent) and Titan (1.89 per cent) were the major gainers. IndusInd Bank (1.19 per cent), Power Grid Corporation (1.02 per cent), Reliance Industries (1 per cent) and Asian Paints (0.95 per cent) were the major laggards.

However, advance-decline ratio remained neutral. Of the 3,857 stocks traded on BSE, 1,823 advanced, 1,881 declined and 153 remained unchanged. While 347 stocks hit 52-week high, 30 stocks hit 52-week low.

Ajit Mishra, SVP-Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said the markets are close to record high level. However, after three days of advance, market may take a breather now, he said.

“Rotational buying across sectors would keep the tone positive. We thus suggest utilising an intermediate pause or a dip to add quality names,” Mishra added.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said that despite positive global cues, investors were cautious ahead of the exit poll results of five States, and the market could see a knee-jerk reaction in the next trading session.

India’s economy grew 7.6 per cent in Q2 FY24 and remained the fastest-growing large economy, mainly due to better performance by manufacturing, mining and services sectors, the government data showed.

The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 6.2 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2022-23..

Raghvendra Nath, MD, Ladderup Wealth Management, said, “India continues to remain the fastest growing major economy in the world. With the robust growth reported in India along with China still in a troubled situation, we can expect healthy inflows in Indian equity markets, with Nifty being pushed to new highs.”

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