On the positive side, BofA Securities said credit demand is bottoming out and the real lending rates adjusted for wholesale price inflation are falling

Losses in metal, media, IT, bank and realty sectors were capped by gains in PSU banking, pharma, FMCG and auto sectors

In Mumbai, petrol prices increased by 25 paise, taking Thursday's rate to Rs 91.32 a litre in the city. The highest level for petrol in Mumbai was on October 4, 2018, when it was Rs 91.34

Rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index decreased from 4.27 per cent in November 2020, to 0.92 per cent in December 2020; retail inflation also dropped sharply to 4.59 per cent in December, mainly due to declining food prices

India Stock Market Highlights Today: Global equities were bearish today as coronavirus infections increased in parts of North Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, and weighed on investor sentiment. European countries have banned flights from the UK as the British government began emergency lockdown on Sunday, over fear of new virus strain.

Experts believe retail inflation is likely to average around 6.3 per cent this fiscal and mostly will remain sticky going forward owing to pick-up in demand across sectors

The CPI inflation continues to remain above 6 per cent throughout this year -- except in March -- higher than the Reserve Bank of India's comfort zone of 4-6 per cent

WPI based inflation was 1.48 per cent in October. November WPI year ago was 0.58 per cent due to increase in prices of food articles.

India Stock Market Highlights Today: ONGC followed by Tata Steel, L&T, Sun Pharma, M&M, ICICI Bank and NTPC were among the top gainers in the Sensex pack

Earlier in the day, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the inflation trajectory has not panned as per the central bank's expectations and upped its target for the price rise situation in the next one year

While RBI continue to take an accommodative stance in monetary policy reviews to support growth,  it is now looking up to government to use duties and other measures, while also hoping winter to ease vegetable prices

India Stock Market Highlights Today: Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco, Tata Steel and GAIL India were the top gainers on Nifty rising up to 3.62%. SBI Life Insurance, Infosys, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank were the top losers falling up to 1.79% on Nifty

India Stock Market Highlights Today: Global equities were buoyed today as positive macroeconomic data flow and hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine boosted investor sentiment

On a month-on-month basis too, WPI inflation firmed up for third month straight; this is highest level of WPI inflation since February when it was 2.26 per cent

Over the past week, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,744.92 points or 4.16 per cent

India Stock Market Highlights Today: Reliance Industries, followed by M&M, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, NTPC, Titan and HDFC were among the was the top gainer in the Sensex pack. Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid and Infosys were among the laggards

The previous high in the CPI was witnessed at 7.59 per cent in January 2020

Overseas, Asian equities were trading mixed tracking overnight fall in US markets as investors awaited Chinese President's speech. Investors sentiment was hit after select drug-makers faced setbacks in vaccine trials of COVID-19

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.01 per cent to 93.51. US dollar was steady as lack of news from the political front

WPI inflation had remained negative for four months -- April (-) 1.57 per cent, May (-) 3.37 per cent, June (-) 1.81 per cent and July -0.25 per cent -- as coronavirus induced lockdown hurt economic activity