Sensex, Nifty hit highest level in almost a week

After trading in a narrow range in afternoon trade, the key benchmark indices extended gains in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 181.72 points or 0.71% at 25,957.46. The Nifty 50 index was up 57.30 points or 0.73% at 7,888.90. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, hit their highest level in almost a week. The Sensex jumped 210.29 points or 0.81% at the day's high of 25,986.03 in mid-afternoon trade, its highest level since 20 November 2015. The Nifty rose 61.05 points or 0.77% at the day's high of 7,892.65 in mid-afternoon trade, its highest level since 20 November 2015.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,554 shares rose and 1,005 shares fell. A total of 216 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.39%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.51%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

In overseas stock markets, European stocks edged higher on growing bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) will roll out more stimulus at its monetary policy meeting next week. The ECB has signaled its readiness to expand its bond purchase program to combat weak inflation. The next monetary policy review from the ECB is scheduled on 3 December 2015. Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend. US stocks ended little changed in a thinly traded preholiday session yesterday, 25 November 2015.

IT stocks rose as the rupee weakened against the dollar. Infosys (up 1.39%), Wipro (up 1.09%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.32%) and HCL Technologies (up 0.17%) rose. TCS shed 0.62%. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was currently hovering at 66.61, compared with its close of 66.3225 during the previous trading session.

Sugar stocks declined on profit booking after recent rally. Sakthi Sugars (down 2.23%), Balrampur Chini Mills (down 1.39%), Shree Renuka Sugars (down 2.15%), Dwarikesh Sugar Industries (down 2.14%), Bajaj Hindusthan (down 0.77%) and Dhampur Sugar Mills (down 0.36%), declined.

PAE was locked at 20% upper circuit at Rs 16.38 after the company said its board of directors will meet on 30 November 2015 to consider sale of its wholly owned subsidiary PAE Renewables to the prospective buyers. The company said that the prospective buyers for PAE Renewables include the company's promoters. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 24 November 2015.

Meanwhile, according to a monthly survey, business confidence among India's largest companies dropped this month despite it being the festive month of Diwali. The MNI India Business Sentiment Indicator, a gauge of sentiment among BSE-listed companies, fell to 60.9 in November 2015 from 62.3 in October 2015. The fall in sentiment was observed across both manufacturing and construction companies. On the flip side, sentiment among service sector companies rose for the first time in five months. According to the survey, Indian companies are less optimistic about the outlook for the next three months with the future expectations indicator falling to 72.2 in November 2015 from 75.1 in October 2015.

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