Equity barometers come off the day`s high; IT shares in demand

The domestic equity barometers came off the day`s high as profit taking emerged at higher levels in mid-morning trade. The Nifty managed to hold above the 20,950 level. IT shares witnessed across the board buying.

At 11:31 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 244.66 points or 0.35% to 69,766.35. The Nifty 50 index added 75.80 points or 0.36% to 20,976.95.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index lost 0.09% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.06%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1968 shares rose and 1599 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged.

RBI MPC Meet Outcome:

The Reserve Bank of India�s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today, 8 December 2023, announced its decision to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.50%. The standing deposit facility (SDF) rate remains unchanged at 6.25% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75%.

All members of the MPC unanimously voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged. The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation progressively aligns to the target, while supporting growth.

These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%, while supporting growth.

The real GDP growth for 2023-24 is projected at 7% with Q3 at 6.5%; and Q4 at 6%. Real GDP growth for Q1:2024-25 is projected at 6.7%; Q2 at 6.5%; and Q3 at 6.4%. The risks are evenly balanced.

CPI inflation is projected at 5.4% for 2023-24, with Q3 at 5.6%; and Q4 at 5.2%. Assuming a normal monsoon next year, CPI inflation for Q1:2024-25 is projected at 5.2%; Q2 at 4%; and Q3 at 4.7%. The risks are evenly balanced.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.82% to 33,230.80. The index had lost 0.18% to end at 32,961.60 yesterday

HCL Technologies (up 1.68%), LTIMindtree (up 1.52%), Coforge (up 1.32%), Mphasis (up 0.93%), Infosys (up 0.58%), Persistent Systems (up 0.29%) and Wipro (up 0.14%) advanced.

On the other hand, L&T Technology Services (down 0.46%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.15%) and Tech Mahindra (down 0.03%) edged lower.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading mixed as Japan�s third-quarter GDP was revised downward in a surprise move.

Japan�s third-quarter GDP was revised downward to a 0.7% fall quarter-on-quarter, a sharper slide compared with the 0.5% decline estimated earlier.

The yen was the best-performing Asian currency this week, up over 2% after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled that the central bank was considering an eventual move away from negative interest rates. The yen rose 0.2% to 143.88 against the dollar on Friday.

Ueda�s comments, made during an address on Thursday, sparked a sharp reversal in bets for more weakness in the yen, while reinforcing expectations that the BOJ will end its negative rate regime in 2024. This helped the yen strengthen past data showing that Japan�s economy shrank more than initially estimated in the third quarter.

US stocks ended higher on Thursday ahead of Friday�s all-important jobs report. The Nasdaq ended sharply higher after Alphabet and Advanced Micro Devices sparked a megacap rally on fresh optimism about artificial intelligence.

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