Mid-day Mood | Indices trade marginally down but two listings steal the show

About 1,571 shares rose, 1535 fell, and 111 remained unchanged.

Benchmark indices mirrored their global counterparts and recorded a lacklustre session as of afternoon trade on November 30. Meanwhile, investors also chose to book partial profits after the bull run in the market since last week, prompting a breather in the market.

Some volatility was also seen in trade as traders rushed in to rollover positions ahead of the expiry of the November derivatives series, slated at market close today.

At 11.42 am, the Sensex was down 139.17 points or 0.21 percent at 66,762.74, and the Nifty was down 20.80 points or 0.10 percent at 20,075.80. "Global cues are supportive with positive news from the mother market US where growth is strong and inflation is trending down. India’s Q2 GDP numbers expected today will be better than expected. If these good macros are supported by today's exit poll results coming in tune with market expectations, a rally to record highs can happen soon," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"With India’s market cap touching $4 trillion and the market cap GDP ratio climbing to 1.2 valuations are getting stretched. But in the short run the market is likely to move ahead of fundamentals," he added.

However, two stocks - Tata Technologies and Gandhar Oil, that made a debut on the bourses on November 30, stole the spotlight. Tata Technologies recorded the most successful debut of 2023 as it listed at a sharp premium of 140 percent to its IPO price. Gandhar Oil also had a solid listing as it listed at a premium of 75 percent.

After making a bumper listing, shares of Tata Technologies went on to extend its gains on the back of strong buying interest. As a result, the stock rose as much as 40 percent more post listing.

A similar story panned out for Gandhar Oil as the stock rose another 15 percent after its listing.

Aside from the two, Fedbank Financial Services also made a debut on the exchanges, listing at a 2 percent discount to its IPO price. However, the stock recouped the discount post listing and was now up nearly 4 percent.

Auto stocks also inched higher amid expectations of continued festive demand to reflect in strong November sales. Consequently, Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors, and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the top five gainers on the Nifty 50.

Regardless, banking stocks remained under pressure, with heavyweights like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank slipping around a percent which dragged the benchmarks lower.

The broader market outperformed their large-cap peers as the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 indices traded with gains.