The market capitalization of all listed companies on BSE increased by Rs 2.76 lakh crore on Friday and by Rs 8.55 lakh crore this week to Rs 357.78 lakh crore. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex advanced 1,080 points or 1.53% to 71,594. The broader NSE Nifty surged 298 points or 1.41% to 21,481.

Grey market premium is the additional price that investors are willing to pay over the IPO price in the grey market before the stock lists on the exchange. A higher grey market premium is often a sign of strong listing gains for an IPO. Next week, at least six mainboard issues are set to open and among these four are already buzzing in the grey market. Take a look:

Indian benchmark equity indices advanced to new all-time highs on Friday, tracking the global stock rally on elevated bets of a US rate cut by March 2024. In Friday's trade, six midcap stocks from the Nifty200 index also hit new 52-week highs. Here's a list:

An over 1,200 points rally in Nifty 50 in just 10 sessions saw the benchmark index clocking its best monthly gain in about 15 months

When a sector gets re-rated, it is the leader of that particular sector which tends to get the attention in the first leg. If the fundamentals of that sector continue to improve, then companies which are lower than in terms of scale and size are the ones which tend to get re-rated. If one looks at the re-rating of PSU banking space, the likes of SBI, BoB had started to do well some time back. But the mid and smaller PSU banks, not smaller when one looks at the market cap, but in terms of geographical presence and overall size of the business are likely to get more attention now. There are multiple reasons for it: GDP growth rate has a strong correlation with credit off take, which will be visible even in the books of these banks. Some of these banks started their digital journey late, the impact of which will be visible in the coming quarter.

Largecaps pushed the benchmarks to yet another record high as Nifty conquered the 21,355.65 level. All five top stocks in the Nifty were IT counters with HCL Technologies, LTIMindtree, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) gaining between 4.7% and 3.89%. Barring Infosys, the rest hit their 52-week highs.

Stating the return ratio on the comeback path, domestic brokerage firm Sharekhan maintained its Buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 105, which indicates an upside potential of 17% from the current market prices.

A short buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with a decrease in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. Short buildup means more people are expecting the prices to go down and creating short positions. In Friday’s trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh short positions. Here's the list:

Stating the return ratio on the comeback path, domestic brokerage firm Sharekhan maintained its Buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 105, which indicates an upside potential of 17% from the current market prices.

The yen has strengthened about 5% in three weeks, driven by bets that the Bank of Japan is nearing an exit from negative interest rates, while expectations for the Federal Reserve point to a potential rate cut. The BOJ's next policy decision is scheduled for Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs says its expectations for headline inflation to fall to 2.3% in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the BoE's modal forecast of 3.6%, implies a faster deceleration in inflationary pressures in the coming quarters.

Notwithstanding strong buying trends in metal stocks seen on Thursday, a wait-and-watch policy in metals is recommended by analyst Pankaj Pandey of Head Research, ICICIdirect.com even as he suggests investors to remain positive on this sector.

NSDL data shows that in the first 10 days of the month, FIIs invested Rs 39,260 crore on Dalal Street. And now with the US Fed hinting at 3 rate cuts in 2024, the market could once again see a flood of foreign money chasing Indian stocks in the new year.

The SME IPO was subscribed by a whopping 362 times on the last day of the bidding process with the total bids surpassing the Rs 18,000 crore mark, which is a first for any SME company. The previous record was held by Chennai-based Basilic Fly Studio, whose SME offer garnered bids of just over Rs 14,000 crore.

PB Fintech shares have rallied over 80% in the last 12 months and have outperformed Nifty which has returned over 15% during this period. The stock is currently trading above its 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs).

Fed move pushed Nifty up and kept it buoyant throughout the day.

In an interview with ETMarkets, Rahul Baijal, senior fund manager – equities at HDFC Asset Management Co spoke about the factors that will influence the market in 2024, the sectors that the fund house is positive on, and his view on midcaps and smallcap stocks.

A long buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with an increase in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. The long buildup is the occurrence of a long (buying) trend in the share market. In Friday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh long positions. Here's the list:

The multibagger railway counter has given returns of over 220% in the last 12 months, significantly outperforming the Nifty which has given returns of 15% during this time.

Prakash Industries has also given multibagger returns in the last one year but it is not considered in this list as the stock was not in her portfolio in December 2022.

From the Sensex stocks, Infosys, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, and Sun Pharma opened with gains, while only Axis Bank, Nestle, Bharti Airtel, and Power Grid opened with cuts.

“In a landmark achievement, 300 companies have signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) for investments totaling 50,530 crore rupees, showcasing Bihar's growing attractiveness as a key business destination,” said the press note.

Even as the S&P BSE Sensex has risen at a 12% CAGR between 2018 and 2023, in its 28th Annual Wealth Creation Study, Motilal Oswal brings 10 stocks which have been the fastest wealth creators during this period. If Rs 10 lakh was invested in 2018 in these counters, investors' worth would be Rs 10 million in 2023 - a return CAGR of 59%. Take a look!

Shares of the D’Mart hypermarket operator have given flat returns year-to-date. Despite this, many analysts have held a positive view of the stock and Prabhudas Lilladher is one among them.

The bulk of the proceeds from the QIP will be used to pare down debt furthermore providing us capital to pursue the fast-growing solar EPC markets in India and abroad, the company said in a statement, adding that the QIP witnessed a strong response from both domestic mutual funds and global FIIs.

Avenue Supermarts has been a major underperformer in 2023. Despite this, Prabhudas Lilladher holds a positive view on the stock and sees potential for 16% upside from the current levels. The brokerage believes that D’Mart has a huge runway to grow with over 1500 store potential in duopoly markets, and scale up D’Mart Ready.

The breakout has opened room for the stock to head higher and may even breach 1100 levels to hit fresh record highs in the next 2-3 months, suggest experts.

A host of brokerage firms, including global and domestic, have initiated coverage on several stocks. They are bullish on these companies, which include Maruti Suzuki, SJVN, Nuvama Wealth Management and Eureka Forbes, with a targeted upside of up to 65%. Here is a list of 7 stocks on which brokerages initiated coverage:

Brokerage firm SPARK initiated coverage on Arvind with a buy rating, HSBC upgraded Colgate Palmolive India to a buy from hold earlier while it downgraded Nestle India to hold. Centrum Institutional Research initiated coverage on Ugro Capital with a buy rating.

From the Sensex stocks, Infosys, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, and Sun Pharma opened with gains, while only Axis Bank, Nestle, Bharti Airtel, and Power Grid opened with cuts.

Stocks in the smallcap segment have had a dream run this year, backed by the relentless buying, particularly by retail investors. The S&P BSE Smallcap index has given a staggering 45% returns year-to-date, against the 16 returns given by benchmark Sensex.

Record run continues! Sensex jumps 300 points, Nifty above 21,250; IRFC soars 7%, Titagarh 5%; National Aluminium Company, Yes Bank, Vodafone Idea are some of the gainers in the morning trade.

ET Now spoke to various experts, and here's what they have to recommend for today's trading session. Kunal Bothra has a buy/sell recommendation on Bajaj Finance and Wipro, while Nooresh Merani has a buy/sell recommendation on SBI and Gail India for today's trading session. Check out the targets and stoploss.

The combined market value of companies listed in Paris was about $3.2 trillion as of Wednesday’s close, versus the technology giant’s $3.1 trillion, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg. Apple is bigger than all but the six largest stock markets in the world.

Prakash Industries has also given multibagger returns in the last one year but it is not considered in this list as the stock was not in her portfolio in December 2022.

Economic data on Thursday showing stronger-than-expected retail sales in November and a smaller-than-anticipated rise in weekly jobless claims had traders paring a bit of their earlier enthusiasm for Fed policy easing next year.

The Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, with Chair Jerome Powell saying the historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over, as inflation falls faster than expected, and discussions on cuts in borrowing costs were coming "into view."

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7% to the highest since early September and was up 2.5% for the week. Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.2%, also heading for a weekly gain of 2.5%.

High interest rates, sticky inflation and geopolitical tensions have seen share sales by Asia Pacific (including Japanese) companies sink by a fifth in value so far this year to $229 billion, LSEG data shows. That's put this year on course to be the weakest since 2012.

"With India continuing to post strong growth numbers and hopes of rate cut expected in the middle of next year, optimism in equity markets could continue in the medium term," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

“Continuous long built-up can be seen in this rich iron ore stock, NMDC, and it has recently come out of its consolidation of the last 10 sessions. Traders can buy for a target above Rs 200 in the next 3-4 weeks,” Shivangi Sarda, Analyst, Derivatives and Technical Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

Sensex rose 929.60 points, or 1.34%, to close at 70,514.20. Nifty gained 256.35 points, or 1.23%, to end at 21,182.70.

In this draft circular, the regulator has suggested changes in surrender value rules for non-linked life insurance policies. Under the current draft Irdai regulations on non-linked insurance products, surrender values are determined based on a percentage of premiums paid by the policyholder, which increases with the number of premiums paid.

Investment advisors said fixed income must not be compared with equities or gold but must be used as part of asset allocation to temper the portfolio volatility emanating from riskier asset classes.

The company has appointed Vivek Anand as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Rachna Kumar as the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). Vivek and Rachna will report to the CEO.

The share of state companies, which generally trail their privately run peers on valuations, surged to about 13% of India's total market capitalisation in the 551 trading sessions the Sensex took to reach the latest milestone, reflecting the investor perception of a reforms-driven government agenda for state companies in industries as diverse as banking, insurance, infrastructure and manufacturing.

Analysts attributed the rally in banking stocks to the underperformance in the sector compared to the benchmark and strong foreign inflows. Bank stocks have the highest weight on the Sensex and Nifty and a pick-up in overseas investor purchases of Indian equities benefit this sector the most.

"IT stocks rallied higher as the US interest rate cuts going ahead could lead to a better growth outlook for the Indian IT companies," said Ruchit Jain, lead research analyst at 5Paisa.com. "This sector has also relatively underperformed the market in the recent past and thus, we could see a fresh buying interest in stocks within this sector."

In contrast, the Sensex completed the journey from 50,000 to 60,000 in 158 sessions. More importantly, the latest 10,000-point Sensex rally was purely driven by domestic money.

"Asset allocation determines as much as 90% of the long-term returns of an investor's portfolio," said Misbah Baxamusa, CEO of NJ Wealth.