Indices end near records; Sensex gains 529 pts; RIL up 2.5%, Infy dips 1%

Frontline indices ended the session near record highs on Thursday as investors went on Christmas holiday in a festive mood. Reports that Britain and the European Union have closed in on a free-trade deal, while short covering in banking counters back home lifted the indices. 

That apart, hopes for more fiscal spending and expectations that coronavirus vaccines will become more available next year also supported global sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 529 points, or 1.14 per cent, to settle the day at 46,973.5 levels. Sun Pharmaceuticals, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC, and Bajaj Finance, up between 2 per cent and 3 per cent, closed the day as top gainers on the Sensex. On the downside, profit-booking in IT and FMCG stocks resulted in Infosys, Nestle, and HCL Tech ending the day as top drags.

The broader Nifty50 closed at 13,749-mark, up 148 points or 1 per cent.

Among other sectoral indices on the NSE, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial indices ended Thursday's session nearly 2 per cent higher each, while Nifty Pharma was up 1 per cent at close. Nifty IT index closed 0.65 per cent down.

Markets will remain shut on Friday on account of Christmas.

Global markets

Investors cheered news that Britain and the European Union were on the cusp of striking a narrow trade deal on Thursday that would help them avoid a turbulent economic rupture on New Year’s Day.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.45 per cent, Australian stocks ended 0.33 per cent higher, while Tokyo shares rose 0.45 per cent. 

Chinese stocks, however, fell 0.28 per cent dragged by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd whose shares slumped 8.13 per cent, their biggest daily drop in six weeks, after China's market regulator said it will investigate the tech giant for suspected monopolistic behaviour.

In Europe, FTSE 100 rose 0.07 per cent while the more domestically-focused British mid-cap FTSE 250 index hit its highest levels since February, and UK small caps a record high. The STOXX 50 added 0.17 per cent while Germany's DAX gained 1.26 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:16 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Dr. Joseph Thomas, Head of Research - Emkay Wealth Management

The frontline indexes closed strong this week, a shade above the 1 % mark in today’s session. Almost all the major sectors participated in this up-move except for IT and Tech and Capital goods. Banking , Healthcare , and Consumer Durables displayed immense amount of exuberance, and the overall sentiment reflected what is happening in the Eastern markets and early Europe.  Markets may be looking for positive cues from global markets in the coming days, as they re-open after a fairly long weekend after Christmas

4:00 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Governments plan to set logistics ready to vaccinate frontline health workers in the first phase boosted investor sentiments. Momentum in European markets on hopes of Brexit deal also helped Indian indices to trade higher, financials and pharma sector contributed in the rally. Volatility noticed at the start of the week vanished by the end of the week as concern over new strain of virus reduced, development on the US stimulus and vaccination

3:47 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities

Index maintain the bullish momentum for the third consecutive session and closed a day at 13,749 with gains of more than one per cent forming inside bar kind of candle pattern on the daily chart. Now index has reached to its upper band of resistance which was at 13,775 going forward if index managed to sustain above-said level then we may see the extension in rally otherwise we may see some profit booking in the index, support for nifty is coming near 13,680-13,600 zone

3:46 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research

The market witnessed the continuation of the strong pullback rally after a big correction that occurred on Monday. While sustaining above 13,750 is the key factor from a short-term perspective, A decisive breakout above the zone of 13,760-13,780 could open the gate for a movement till 13,990. The momentum indicators like RSI, MACD indicating a positive outlook to continue and market breadth to improve further after the decisive level breakout of the resistance zone.

   

3:46 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

Ahead of a long weekend and a tranche of expected Rural Stimulus, Bulls were in complete control buoyed by a stellar listing of Bector Foods. Financials & Pharmaceuticals led the rally while investors bought into Insurers & Consumer Durable names across the broader market

3:45 PM

Market stats :: Market breadth remains 1:1

3:44 PM

Firstsource Solutions ends at over 12-yr high among smallcaps; S&P BSE SmallCap index closes 0.5% up

3:42 PM

S&P BSE MidCap index underperforms, ends flat

3:41 PM

Sectoral trends on NSE at Close :: Nifty IT index snaps 2-day gaining streak

3:40 PM

Sensex Heatmap :: IT, auto stocks see profit-booking

3:36 PM

CLOSING BELL

>> The S&P BSE Sensex gained 529 points, or 1.14 per cent, to settle the day at 46,973.5 levels. 

 

>> The broader Nifty50 closed at 13,749-mark, up 148 points or 1 per cent.

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2:54 PM

STOCK TIP :: Yash Gupta Equity Research Associate at Angel Broking on Vedanta

Vedanta Ltd stock up by 8% on promoter launch offer to buy upto 4.9%. Vedanta promoter group to raise stake by 5% via block deal with indicative price of 160. After Vedanta ltd promoter had failed to delist Vedanta ltd in October 2020 as not able to receive requisite quantity of share at cutoff price. At the time of delisting the promoter group fixed cutoff price at 87.5 and now via block deal as per the indicative price of 160 which is more than 82% of cut off price. We expect stock to consolidate at these levels, upside will be very limited from current market price as all positive news has been factored in.