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Indian markets rose notably on Wednesday to extend gains for a seventh straight session and reach fresh record highs on the back of firm global cues. Today, start of new month likely to be optimistic tracking firm global cues. Investors will be eyeing the manufacturing PMI data for November to be out later in the day. Traders will be taking encouragement as the government data showed that retail inflation for industrial workers rose to 6.08 per cent in October from 6.49 per cent in September 2022 mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. Some support will come as Chief Economic Advsior V Anantha Nageswaran said the Indian economy is on track to achieve a 6.8-7 per cent GDP growth in the current fiscal. He said the economic recovery momentum is continuing and the GDP is averaging the 2019-20 level. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 9,010.41 crore on 30 November, according to the provisional data available on the NSE. Besides, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expects strong growth and lower inflation next year, as central bank authorities seek to stabilize Asia’s third-largest economy amid tough global headwinds. However, there may be some cautiousness as the government data showed that India’s economic growth slowed to 6.3 per cent in the September quarter of 2022-23 compared to 13.5 per cent in the preceding three months mainly on account of contraction in output of manufacturing and mining sectors. Also, traders may be concerned as growth in production by eight infrastructure industries, which comprise the core sector, slowed down sharply to a 20-month low of 0.1 per cent in October, owing to a high base effect and weak activity. Meanwhile, the Centre’s fiscal deficit touched 45.6 per cent of the Budget target in the first seven months of the current financial year, higher than 36.3 per cent in the corresponding period of the last year. Auto stocks will be in focus reacting to their monthly sales numbers.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday amid Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell’s dovish stance in his speech. The Fed chair signaled that the US Central Bank would reduce the aggressive pace of rate highs. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday as China reopening hopes and broad weakness in the dollar in the wake of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's dovish remarks in a speech helped improve risk sentiment.

Back home, extending their winning streak to a seventh consecutive session, Indian equity benchmarks ended at fresh record closing highs with gains of over half percent each on Wednesday. Markets made slightly positive start and managed to keep heads in green terrain in the first half as investors reluctant to make any significant move ahead of the Q2 gross domestic product (GDP) numbers to be out later in the day. There are expectations that annual growth in the Indian economy likely slowed in the July-September quarter as COVID distortions faded. As per a private report, the economy is likely to post annual growth of 6.2% in the three months to September 30, down from explosive growth of 13.5% in the previous quarter, which was inflated by comparison with weak activity during COVID-19 lockdowns. However, key gauges picked up momentum in the last hour with Sensex crossing 63,000 and Nifty 18,750 for the first time. Traders found solace amid a private report stating that global investors are bullish on Indian equities market in spite of the 86 per cent premium it commands over emerging market peers and on the back of a 17 per cent outperformance so far this year. Some support also came as provisional data available on the NSE showed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-bought shares worth Rs 1,241.57 crore on November 29, 2022. Besides, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Union government has saved Rs 2,00,000 crore by using technology as systems like Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) stopped leakages. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 417.81 points or 0.67% to 63,099.65 and the CNX Nifty was up by 140.30 points or 0.75% to 18,758.35.

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