The benchmark indices continued to trade in a narrow range with moderate gains in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,550 mark after hitting the day's low of 24,295.55 in mid-morning trade. IT, oil & gas and private bank shares advanced while realty, media and pharma stocks corrected. Trading could be volatile due to the weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 491.89 points or 0.61% to 81,448.22. The Nifty 50 index added 118.30 points or 0.48% to 24,585.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 0.05% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.10%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,053 shares rose and 1,815 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

Gainers& Losers:

Titan Company (up 1.90%), Infosys (up 1.59%), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (up 1.58%), Wipro (up 1.48%) and Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.47%) were major Nifty gainers.

Bajaj Auto (down 2.07%), SBI Life Insurance Company (down 1.47%), NTPC (down 1.18%), Cipla (down 0.79%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (0.72%) were major Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Technopack Polymers hit an upper limit of 20% after the company's board approved a bonus share issue in a 1:1 ratio.

Easy Trip Planners advanced 2.26% after the company announced that its board of directors will meet on 8 December 2024 to consider and approve the proposal for issuing fully paid-up equity shares through a preferential issue.

Bondada Engineering rose 1.71% after the company said that it has received a work order worth Rs 108.90 crore from the Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency under the Mukhyamantri Gramin Solar Street Light Yojana.

Global Market:

European shares traded mixed while most Asian stocks advanced on Thursday as investors grappled with ongoing political crises in France and South Korea.

The price of bitcoin soared past the long-awaited $100,000 benchmark for the first time ever late Wednesday evening.

Japanese and Australian equities advanced, while South Korean shares declined after the opposition party initiated impeachment proceedings against President Yoon Suk Yeol following his controversial declaration of martial law.

In France, Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted by lawmakers just three months after its formation, plunging the country into further political uncertainty. This follows President Macron's failed attempt to secure a parliamentary majority in recent elections, leaving him without a clear path forward.

Meanwhile, US stock markets closed at record highs on Wednesday, driven by strong earnings reports, particularly from Salesforce, and continued optimism surrounding tech giants like NVIDIA.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to a record high of 6,086.49 points, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 1.3% to a peak of 19,732.87 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.7% at a record high of 45,014.04 points.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on the US economy also boosted investor sentiment. Powell expressed confidence in the economy's strength and indicated that the Fed may adopt a more cautious approach to future rate cuts.

Market participants are now eagerly awaiting the release of the US nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, which is expected to provide insights into the labor market's health and its potential impact on interest rate policy.