Market Wrap, Dec 11: SENSEX rises 427 pts, NIFTY50 near 25,900 as auto, metal stocks rally, SMIDs outshine; Adani Enterprises top gainer

The Indian equity market snapped its three-day losing streak and closed higher on Thursday, December 11, as auto, metal and pharma stocks rallied. Sentiment was also supported by optimism around the ongoing US-India trade discussions and the US Federal Reserve’s third rate cut of 2025. Both benchmark equity indices rebounded from early losses in the afternoon trade, outperforming most other Asian markets.

The US Federal Reserve on Thursday had reduced its key interest rate by 25 points for the third consecutive meeting. This brings the lending rate in the range of 3.50% to 3.75%. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, however, hinted that the committee may leave the rates unchanged in the coming months.

On Wednesday, US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer had said that the US has received the "best" ever offers from India on the proposed trade agreement amid the commencement of two-day talks here between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the rupee plunged 54 paise to an all-time low of 90.48 against the US dollar in intra-day trade on Thursday after reports surfaced that the India-US trade deal is likely by March 2026. On a provisional basis, the domestic currency closed at an all-time low of 90.37 against the US dollar, falling 43 paise.

Globally, most of the Asian markets closed lower, giving up early gains following overnight gains on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed marginally lower by 0.01%, while Singapore's Straits Times advanced 0.2%. Japan's Nikkei declined 0.8%, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.59%, and the Shanghai Composite settled lower by 0.7%.

On Wall Street, the US stocks ended higher on Wednesday on the back of the US Fed’s widely expected 25-basis-point rate cut. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.67%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.33%.

Here are the key developments of Thursday's session that you need to know

As many as 3,207 stocks traded on the NSE on Thursday. Out of this, 1,921 advanced and 1,187 stocks declined, while 99 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of advances.

A total of 28 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 105 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 63 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 48 touched their lower circuit bands on Thursday.

The market capitalisation of NSE-listed firms stood at ₹464.21 lakh crore at the close of the session, adding ₹2.48 lakh crore.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 10.40 levels, slumping 4.69%.

The broader markets outshined the main equity indices as the Nifty Smallcap 100 index surged 0.81% to close at 17,228.05, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index ended at 59,578.05, gaining 0.97%.

Except for Nifty Media (-0.09%) and Nifty Oil and Gas (-0.03%), all the other sectoral gauges ended in green.

Nifty Auto took the lead among the gainers’ pack, rising 1.11%, followed by Nifty Metal (1.06%), Nifty Pharma (0.98%), Nifty Consumer Durables (0.97%), and Nifty IT (0.81%). Nifty Bank also closed 0.42% higher at 59,209.85, driven by Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and Canara Bank.

On the NIFTY50, 39 stocks ended in the green, while 11 declined on Thursday.

Adani Enterprises was the biggest contributing stock, surging 2.65%, followed by Jio Financial Services (2.63%), Tata Steel (2.57%), Eternal (2.38%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (2.06%).

On the flip side, Asian Paints (-1%), SBI Life Insurance (-0.86%), Bharti Airtel (-0.63%), Power Grid (-0.28%) and ONGC (-0.22%) were the biggest laggards on the 50-share index.