Market Wrap, Dec 18: Here’s all that happened in the markets today

Last hour buying in pharmaceutical, select financials and IT stocks lifted indices to yet another closing peak on Friday, even as weak global sentiment weighed on investors.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex hit a record high of 47,026 in the opening deals but erased gains on sell-off in large private banks, metals and realty stocks. At close, the index was at a fresh closing peak of 46,961 levels, up 70 points or 0.15 per cent.

The Nifty50 index, on the other hand, ended at 13,760.5 levels, up 20 points or 0.14 per cent.

During the week, both the Sensex and Nifty indices advanced nearly 2 per cent at the bourses.

The broader markets, however, ended in the red for the second straight day. The S&P BSE MidCap index closed at 63 points, or 0.35 per cent, lower at 17,801 level. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, too, dipped 42 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 17,769 levels.

Investors rushed towards IT counters today after global IT firm Accenture revised upwards revenue growth forecast for the full fiscal year of 2021 to 4 – 6 per cent from an earlier estimate of 2 – 5 per cent. Consequently, the Nifty IT index hit a record high of 23,408, rising 2 per cent on the NSE in intraday trade. Individually, sector giants TCS and Infosys hit their respective record highs of Rs 2,898 and Rs 1,195, respectively.

Nifty Pharma index, too, settled the day over 1 per cent higher with Dr Reddy’s, Biocon, and Aurobindo Pharma ending up to 3 per cent higher.

In another development, Reliance Industries announced after market hours that the company has started production from the R Cluster, ultra-deep-water gas field in block KG D6 off the east

coast of India, in partnership with UK-based firm BP.

On the economic front, the RBI’s central board met earlier today to review the economic situation in the backdrop of global and domestic challenges.

Global markets:

Asian shares slipped on Friday after news agency Reuters reported that the United States is set to add dozens of Chinese companies, including the country’s top chipmaker SMIC, to a trade blacklist later in the day.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.6% from Thursday’s record. Mainland Chinese shares fell 0.4% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1%.

Japan’s Nikkei dipped 0.2%, while European shares were seen weaker, with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.45% and FTSE futures falling 0.3%.

In the commodities segment, February gold futures slipped marginally to Rs 50,211-mark per 10 grams. This comes after global head of equity strategy at Jefferies Chris Wood said that he has trimmed exposure in the yellow metal, a first in many years, in favour of digital currency bitcoin.

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