The benchmark indices hovered near the day's high in afternoon trade. At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 496.70 points or 0.86% at 58,181.49. The Nifty 50 index jumped 158.65 points or 0.92% at 17,325.55.

HDFC (up 3.84%), Infosys (up 1.44%) and HDFC Bank (up 1.09%) boosted the indices.

The broader market lagged the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.50%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.80%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 2,056 shares rose and 1,109 shares fell. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's merchandise exports in November 2021 was $29.88 billion, an increase of 26.49% over $23.62 billion in November 2020 and an increase of 15.93% over $25.77 billion in November 2019. Merchandise exports in April-November 2021 was $262.46 billion, an increase of 50.71% over $174.15 billion in April-November 2020 and an increase of 24.29% over $211.17 billion in April-November 2019.

Meanwhile, merchandise imports in November 2021 stood at $53.15 billion, an increase of 57.18% over $33.81 billion in November 2020 and an increase of 37.96% over $38.52 billion in November 2019. Merchandise imports in April-November 2021 was $384.44 billion, an increase of 75.39% over $219.19 billion in April-November 2020 and an increase of 18.44% over $324.59 billion in April-November 2019.

The trade deficit in November 2021 was $23.27 billion, while it was $121.98 billion during April-November 2021.

Gainers & Losers:

Power Grid Corporation of India (up 3.28%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones (APSEZ) (up 2.73%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 2.48%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) (up 2.26%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.

ICICI Bank (down 1.50%), Axis Bank (down 1.49%), Cipla (down 0.83%), Bharti Airtel (down 0.82%) and Ultratech Cement Co. (down 0.58%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Coal India rose 1.19% after the state-run coal major's offtake stood at 56.8 million tonnes (MT) in November 2021, growing 10.8% as compared with 51.3 MT recorded in the same month last year. The company's coal production rose 4.1% to 53.8 million tonnes (MT) in November 2021 from 51.7 MT in November 2020.

NMDC gained 1.16% after the PSU miner's provisional iron ore production rose 0.60% to 3.34 million tonnes (MT) in November 2021 as against 3.32 MT in November 2020. Provisional iron ore sales aggregated to 2.88 million tonnes (MT) in November 2021 as against 3.30 MT in November 2020, registering a fall of 12.72% Y-o-Y (year-on-year).

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday, 2 December 2021, as concerns over the economic impact of the omicron COVID-19 variant continue to weigh on investor sentiment. The number of COVID-19 cases in South Africa almost doubled, while the UK, Switzerland and Brazil reported cases of the omicron variant.

US stocks witnessed a sharp reversal overnight after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of omicron in the US.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 461.68 points to 34,022.04 while the S&P 500 declined 1.18% to 4,513.04. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.83% to 15,254.05. Meanwhile, US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that he expects policymakers to discuss the possibility of a faster taper schedule at the meeting this month.

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