The benchmark indices ended with decent gains on Thursday amid buying in select blue-chip counters such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, HDFC, and Tata Consultancy Services. Investor sentiment remained subdued after retail inflation in October breached RBI's medium-term target of 4 per cent for the first time in 15 months. That apart, worries over telecom players, too, kept investors cautious.
Global stocks nudged down on Thursday as Chinese economic data slowed in October and Germany only narrowly avoided a recession in the third quarter, adding to worries about the global growth fallout from the US-China trade war. In Asia, stocks fell after soft economic data in China and Japan showed the trade war between Beijing and Washington was hitting growth in some of the world’s biggest economies.
Whereas, European shares fell slightly in cautious trade on Thursday after China reported unexpectedly weak data, with both industrial output and retail sales growth coming in below estimates. Weak data from Japan and Australia also added to signs of weak overall economic growth.
Among sectors, metal stocks cracked the most with the Nifty Metal index closing around 2 per cent lower at 2,508 levels. On the flip side, financial services stocks rallied the most. Nifty Bank gained over 0.7 per cent to settle at 30,764 levels.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices recovered after a weak start and ended modestly higher on Wednesday, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said a global recession is unlikely and that shale oil production in the U.S. will be less than expected next year.
On the corporate front, Zuari Agro Chemicals gained 5 percent intraday on November 14 after the company signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Morocco-based OCP Group for the reorganisation of the fertiliser business.
The 30-share benchmark index closed trading at 40286.48 up by 170.42 points or by 0.42 per cent, while the NSE Nifty was at 11872.1 up by 31.65 points or by 0.27 per cent. During the day’s trade, Sensex touched intraday high of 40348.61 and intraday low of 40026.99 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 11895.65 and intraday low of 11802.65.
The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 498.75,+2.67%), Infosys Ltd. (Rs. 705.35,+2.04%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 4211.95,+1.65%), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 7247.10,+1.28%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1273.70,+1.25%), among others.
Vedanta Ltd. (Rs. 143.95,-2.90%), IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1374.40,-2.79%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 76.70,-2.29%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 167.00,-2.11%), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 362.65,-1.59%), among others were the top losers.
CDS index was at 25274.84 up by 217.94 points or by 0.87%. Whirlpool of India Ltd. (Rs. 2287.90,+4.67%), Voltas Ltd. (Rs. 713.40,+1.62%), Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd. (Rs. 262.75,+1.35%), Titan Company Ltd. (Rs. 1168.65,+0.79%), TTK Prestige Ltd. (Rs. 5962.50,+0.13%),.
On the flip side, CGS index was at 17874.95 down by -150.95 points or by -0.84%. NBCC (India) Ltd. (Rs. 37.30,-4.73%), AIA Engineering Ltd. (Rs. 1641.00,-3.21%), Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd. (Rs. 3221.80,-2.87%), ABB India Ltd. (Rs. 1468.30,-1.53%), Solar Industries India Ltd. (Rs. 1011.50,-1.49%),.
The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2907 , shares advanced were 1123 while 1589 shares declined and 195 were unchanged.