Key equity benchmarks attained record high levels for the third straight session on Thursday, supported by auto and IT stocks. Trading was volatile on account of weekly expiry of index options on the NSE.
The barometer index, the BSE Sensex, rose 115.35 points or 0.28% to 41,673.92, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index gained 38.15 points or 0.31% to 12,259.80, as per the provisional closing data.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.17% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.06%.
The market breadth was positive. On BSE, 1254 shares advanced while 1242 shares declined. A total of 169 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 27 stocks advanced and 23 stocks declined.
Economy:
The 38th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman took place on Wednesday (18 December 2019).
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The council decided to tax woven and non-woven bags at 18%, compared with 12% at present. It exempted from tax the upfront amount payable for long-term lease of industrial and financial infrastructure plots by any entity that is owned 20% or more by the Centre or state governments. Presently, the exemption is available to an entity having 50% or more ownership of Central or State Government. This change shall become effective from 1 January 2020.
On lotteries, the new unified rate of 28% will be applicable from 1 March 2020. The tax is levied on the face value of the lottery tickets, inclusive of the prize money to be distributed to the winners, margin of agents, retailers and distributors.
Buzzing Index:
Auto stocks gained after the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) India on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to allow dealers to sell and register Bharat Stage IV, or BS IV-compliant vehicles, even after the more stringent BS-VI norms come into effect on 1 April.
The Nifty Auto index rose 0.96% at 8,159.90, rising for the third straight session.
JBM Auto (up 3.43%), Eicher Motors (up 3.29%), Tata Motors (up 2.83%), Mahindra and Mahindra (up 2.29%), TVS Motors Company (up 2.16%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.92%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.25%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.33%) and SML Isuzu (up 0.16%) were top gainers in auto segment. Maruti Suzuki India slipped 0.03%).
Stocks in Spotlight:
L&T Finance Holdings rose 0.09%. The company's board approved fund raising of up to Rs 300 crore. The fund raising will be in the form up to 300,00,000 Cumulative Compulsorily Redeemable Non-Convertible Preference Shares of Rs 100 face value at par.
NMDC rose 2.59% to Rs 123. The company has received approval of the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), Ministry of Mines, Government of India to hike output at Kumaraswamy iron ore mines from 7 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 10 MTPA. The effective date of approval is for 2020-21 and 2021-22. NMDC operates the Kumaraswamy Mines in Karnataka.
Lemon Tree Hotels advanced 2.91% to Rs 60.20 after the company signed a license agreement for a 44-room hotel at Baga, Goa.
JK Paper rose 2.02% to Rs 128.60. CRISIL has upgraded its ratings on the long-term bank facilities, non-convertible debentures, and fixed deposit programme of JK Paper (JKPL) to 'CRISIL AA-/FAA/Stable' from 'CRISIL A+/FAA-/Positive'. It reaffirmed the rating on the short-term bank facility and commercial paper programme at 'CRISIL A1+', the company said in an exchange filing after market hours yesterday, 18 December 2019.
Goa Carbon hit and upper circuit limit of 5% at Rs 213.40. The maintenance work at the company's Paradeep Unit at Odisha has been completed and the Kiln has been lit up. After preliminary heat up, feeding of raw material will commence and normal production is likely to resume from 20th December 2019. The filing was made after market hours yesterday, 18 December 2019.
Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) advanced 1.08% to Rs 164.35 after the company entered into licensing agreement with Bioprojet to acquire exclusive rights for investigational medicinal product, SCD-044.
Panacea Biotec rose 3.07% to Rs 129.10 after the company said it received orders worth over Rs 170 crore for Pentavalent vaccine from U.N. agencies.
Can Fin Homes declined 1.91% after India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) revised the long-term issuer rating of the company to IND AA' from 'IND AAA'.
Yes Bank surged 6.31% to Rs 49.70. India Ratings and Research and ICRA have downgraded their rating on the private sector bank. The rating agencies have cited concerns over bank's ability to raise funds for further equity infusion as the reasons for the downgrade.
Foreign Markets:
Most European shares traded higher while most Asian stocks ended lower on Thursday as investors are keeping an eye on impeachment proceedings in the US.
China has released another list of US products that will be exempted from the first round of additional tariffs on American goods. This is the second set of American goods to be excluded from China's first round of tariff countermeasures against the US Section 301 measures, Xinhua news agency quoted the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council as saying in a statement. The exemption list will be valid from 26 December 2019 to 25 December 2020.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan on Thursday keeps monetary policy steady. In its statement, the BoJ said: Japan's economy is likely to continue on a moderate expanding trend, as the impact of the slowdown in overseas economies on domestic demand is expected to be limited, although the economy is likely to continue to be affected by the slowdown for the time being.
In US, stocks extended winning streak on Wednesday with the boost in sentiment from a preliminary US-China trade. Investors remained largely unfazed by impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump led by House Democrats.
The United States House of Representatives on Wednesday voted largely along party lines to impeach President Donald Trump for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power related to his dealings with Ukraine. Trump is only the third president in US history to be impeached by the full House.
The trial on removing Trump from office will now move to the Senate. Republicans hold a solid majority and are expected to exonerate him in the Senate.
In Europe, both the Bank of England and Sweden's Riksbank will announce interest rate decisions on Thursday, with the latter expected to lift rates out of negative territory.
The Queen will outline the new U.K. government's plans on Thursday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party secured a significant majority in last week's general election.
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