Sensex, Nifty trade with small gains

Key equity benchmarks trading trading with small gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered around 11,850 level. At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 90.61 points or 0.23% at 40,206.67. The Nifty 50 index was up 6.45 points or 0.05% at 11,846.90.

Broader market was trading flat. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index traded flat. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.14%.

The market breadth was titled in favour of sellers. On the BSE, 948 shares rose and 1453 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 21 stocks advanced while 29 stocks declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Vedanta was trading 3.27% lower at Rs 143.40. The company announced its Q2 2019 earnings during market hours today. On consolidated basis, net profit soared 43.68% to Rs 2,730 crore on a 3.08% decline in net sales to Rs 21,739 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018.

Blue Star rose 0.69% to Rs 800.5 after the company announced Q2 2019 result after market hours yesterday. On consolidated basis, net profit rose 94.1% to Rs 37.94 crore on a 21% jump in net sales to Rs 1,249.47 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018.

Pidilite Industries was up 1.16% at Rs 1339. Pidilite Industries announced its Q2 2019 earnings after market hours yesterday. On consolidated basis, company reported a 41% rise in net profit to Rs 325 crore on a 3% rise in net sales to Rs 1797 crore in Q2FY20 over Q2FY19.

Domestic Macro:

India's wholesale inflation, or Wholesale Price index (WPI), dipped marginally for the month of October at 0.16% compared to 0.33% in September 2019 and 5.28% in October 2018. The index was supported by higher food prices which prevented the index from falling into negative territory.

India's retail inflation for the month of October breached the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) medium-term target of 4% for the first time since July 2018 due to higher food prices. The all-India general consumer price index (CPI) inflation touched 4.62% in October, according to the data released by the statistics office on Wednesday, compared to 3.99% in September. The CPI was 3.38% in October last year.

Numbers to watch:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.509% at 14:24 IST compared with 6.528% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.97, compared with its close of 72.090 during the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for January 2020 settlement was up 49 cents at $62.86 a barrel. The contract rose 0.5% to settle at $62.37 a barrel during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 December 2019 settlement edged 0.24% higher to Rs 38,190.

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