Domestic equity benchmarks ended with minor gains on Friday. The Nifty settled above the 21,700 level after hitting the day?s low of 21,629.20 in mid-morning trade. IT, auto and realty stocks advanced while healthcare, PSU bank and pharma shares declined.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 178.58 points or 0.25% to 72,026.15 . The Nifty 50 index added 52.20 points or 0.24% to 21,710.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.19% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.61%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,222 shares rose and 1,612 shares fell. A total of 102 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 5.25% to 12.63.

Economy:

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity rose to 59 in December from 56.9 in November, highlighting a sharp increase in output that was the most pronounced since September.

Favourable economic conditions and positive demand trends were the key determinants of output growth, anecdotal evidence showed. Not only did new business intakes rise further in December, but also to the greatest extent in three month, the PMI release stated.

The HSBC India Composite PMI Output increased to 58.5 in December 2023 as against 57.4 in November 2023, signalling a sharp rate of expansion that was the strongest since September.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index gained 1.29% to 34,851.70. The index rose 1.33% in two trading sessions.

Coforge (up 2.12%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.96%), LTIMindtree (up 1.37%), Persistent Systems (up 1.35%), Infosys (up 1.34%), Mphasis (up 1.28%), HCL Technologies (up 0.92%), Wipro (up 0.91%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.18%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

HDFC Bank shed 0.62%. The private lender's gross advances aggregated to approximately Rs 24,69,500 crore as of 31 December 2023, recording a growth of around 62.4% as against Rs 15,20,500 crore as of 31 December 2022.

Grasim Industries added 0.50%. The board of directors of the company approved rights issue of equity shares for an amount aggregating to Rs 3,999.80 crore. The rights issue price is Rs 1,812 per share and record date is 10 January 2024.

Macrotech Developers gained 0.99%. The company said that it has recorded pre-sales of Rs 3,410 crore in Q3 FY24, which is higher by 12% when compared with the pre-sales of Rs 3,040 crore recorded in Q3 FY23. The company?s collections for Q3 FY24 added up to Rs 2,590 crore, down 3% YoY and down 6% sequentially.

Dabur India rose 0.61%. The FMCG major on Thursday announced that its consolidated revenue is expected to register mid to high single digit growth in Q3 FY24.

Kalyan Jewellers India declined 1.31%.The jewellery retailer said that its revenue grew approximately 40% from India operations during Q3 FY24 as compared to Q3 FY23. The rise in revenue was mainly driven by robust operating momentum on the ground with healthy same-store-sales growth (similar to levels seen in Q2 FY24) across all the key markets in the country.

Lupin fell 0.57%. The drug major on Thursday announced that it has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) for its abbreviated new drug application for Dapagliflozin and Saxagliptin tablets.

Sobha slipped 2.27%. The company said that it has recorded total sales value of Rs 1,952 crore in Q3 FY24, which is higher by 37% as compared with the sales value of Rs 1,425 crore in Q3 FY23.

Power Finance Corporation shed 0.38%. The board has approved a revision in market borrowing programme of the company from Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 1,05,000 crore for FY 2023-24.

Global Markets:

Markets in Europe and Asia declined on Friday as investors were cautious ahead of the release of key European inflation data and the widely-watched monthly U.S. jobs report.

A survey showed on Friday that the contraction in Japan?s private sector activity was over. The au Jibun Bank Japan composite PMI for December came in at 50, rising from 49.6 in the prior month to signal stabilization in Japan?s private sector output.

Wall Street shares settled mixed on Thursday. The S&P SPX and Nasdaq Composite closed lower on Thursday, extending their losing streak that kicked off 2024, although the Dow Jones Industrial eked out a win on the back of financial stocks and strong jobs data. Markets were now focused on key U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for December, due later in the day.

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