Shares trade with decent gains; metal stocks witness value buying

The key equity barometers continued to trade with decent gains in mid-morning trade. The Nifty was trading above the 17,350 mark. Metal stocks witnessed some bit of bargain buying after a two-day fall.

At 11:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 440.9 points or 0.76% to 58,235.22. The Nifty 50 index added 149.40 points or 0.87% to 17,353.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.06% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.93%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2424 shares rose and 804 shares fell. A total of 115 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories for Union Budget 2022-23 in New Delhi on Thursday. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers, Ministers and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories and the Union Government.

The Finance Secretary welcomed all the participants to the deliberation and informed the importance of this particular consultation meeting. Most of the participants thanked the Union Finance Minister for financially supporting their States and Union Territories during the worst months of pandemic, by enhancing borrowing limits, providing back to back loans to States and through special assistance for capital expenditure.

The participants also gave numerous suggestions to the Union Finance Minister for inclusion in the Budget Speech. Sitharaman thanked the participants for their inputs and suggestions towards Union Budget 2022-23 and assured to examine each of the proposals.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 2.34% to 5,543.20. The index had declined 2.20% in the past two sessions.

Hindalco Industries (up 4.93%), National Aluminum Co. (up 3.33%), Vedanta (up 2.76%), SAIL (up 2.71%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.66%), JSW Steel (up 2.55%), Hindustan Copper (up 2.41%), Welspun Corp (up 1.83%), Tata Steel (up 1.69%) and NMDC (up 1.33%) advanced.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading mixed on Friday in thin year-end trading, with markets in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand closed for holidays while those in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong set to close early.

China`s factory activity saw an acceleration in growth during December, with the official manufacturing Purchasing Managers` Index (PMI) coming in at 50.3 for that month from November`s reading of 50.1, according to data released Friday by the country`s National Bureau of Statistics.

Wall Street closed lower on Thursday, retreating late in thin holiday volume from record highs set early in the session on strong U.S. data including a drop in weekly claims for U.S. unemployment benefits.

On the data front, new claims for US unemployment benefits fell in the week leading up to Christmas and benefits rolls slid to their lowest level of the coronavirus pandemic era the week earlier, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 198,000 for the week ended December 25 from a revised 206,000 a week earlier.

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