Markets ends on a positive note; Sensex rose 153 points & Nifty close above 17,050

Benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, ended a volatile trading session with tiny gains on Monday. The S&P BSE Sensex was up 153.43 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 57,260.58. The Nifty 50 index added 27.50 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 17,040.25. The Nifty Bank index fell 49.05 points, or 0.14 per cent, to end at 35,976.45. Many sectoral indices ended in red but IT and Consumer Durables stock saw some growth.

In the broader markets at the BSE, the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap fell 0.93 per cent and 1.90 per cent, respectively.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 967 shares rose and 2,433 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at the NSE, 15 shares advanced and 35 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 were Kotak Bank (up 2.38 per cent), HCL Technologies (up 2.16 per cent), HDFC Life (up 1.74 per cent), Titan (up 1.65 per cent) and TCS (up 1.64 per cent). The top five losers were BPCL (down 2.56 per cent), Sun Pharma (down 2.33 per cent), Adani Ports (down 2.12 per cent), UPL (down 2.07 per cent) and NTPC (down 1.86 per cent).

Indian Parliament

The Winter Session of Parliament began today and is scheduled to conclude on December 23, 2021. The Session will spread over a period of 25 days and will have 19 sittings. Thirty-Six Bills and one financial item have been identified for being taken up during the Session.

The Parliament has passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021, with the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha approving it today. On the first day of the Winter Session, the bill seeking to withdraw the three farm laws was moved in Lok Sabha by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, amid ruckus by the Opposition in the house.

The Bill was passed without discussion as Speaker Om Birla said, a debate is not possible in a noisy scene. Later, the Bill was also introduced in the Upper House by Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the post-lunch session, which was passed amidst noisy scenes.

Economy

European Central Bank officials meeting next month will receive new forecasts that are likely to show inflation peaking at a higher rate than expected earlier, before settling at a lower level. That is the assessment of an economics think tank, which has used its SHOK model to gauge what has changed since the last round of ECB projections in September. The calculations adjust for higher energy costs, a weaker trade-weighted exchange rate and softer domestic demand. Consumer-price growth in the euro area is set to reach a high of 4.4 per cent this quarter, according to economists. However, their model shows rates will go as low as 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, before ending the year at 1.4 per cent, which falls short of what the ECB had previously envisaged. "Our analysis underscores the challenge facing President Christine Lagarde and her colleagues on the Governing Council," the economists said. "The sources of high headline inflation are likely to leave the economy weaker and price gains 0.2 percentage points slower in the medium term."