Market at day's high; auto shares in demand

The headline equity indices traded with substantial gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 25,000 level after hitting day's low of 24,756.80 in morning trade. Auto shares advanced after declining in the past three consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 663.18 points or 0.82% to 81,713.18. The Nifty 50 index added 231.75 points or 0.93% to 25,027.50.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.48% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 2.09%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,885 shares rose and 1,023 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index gained 1.43% to 26,175.55. The index fell 4.71% in past three consecutive trading sessions.

Balkrishna Industries (up 5.29%), TVS Motor Company (up 3.41%), Bharat Forge (up 2.81%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.77%) and Bosch (up 2.69%), Exide Industries (up 2.41%), Bajaj Auto (up 2.07%), Samvardhana Motherson International (up 1.34%), Eicher Motors (up 1.11%) and Apollo Tyres (up 1.06%).

On the other hand, Tata Motors (down 1.28%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 0.18%) edged lower.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper shed 0.39% to 6.940 as compared with previous close 6.967.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.9550, compared with its close of 84.0000 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 December 2024 settlement fell 0.39% to Rs 75,745.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.13% to 102.40.

The United States 10-year bond yield declined 0.35% to 4.017.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for December 2024 settlement lost $1.52 or 1.88% to $79.41 a barrel.

Stocks in spotlight:

Allied Digital Services zoomed 16.09% after the company announced that it has been awarded the Pune Safe City Project for total contract value of more than Rs 430 crore.

PSP Projects rallied 3.83% after the company announced that it has received work order worth Rs 269.55 crore for construction of high rise residential tower 'SIBAN' at Gandhinagar.

MOIL advanced 2.61% after the company achieved its September production of 1.46 lakh tonnes of manganese ore in September 2024.