The domestic equity benchmarks managed to close with decent gains after a volatile session on Monday. The Nifty closed just shy of the 16,500 mark. IT stocks climbed while auto and metal shares tumbled.
As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 226.47 points or 0.41% to 55,555.79. The Nifty 50 index gained 37.40 points or 0.23% to 16,487.90.
The broader indices tumbled. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.90%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 1.50%.
Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 786 shares rose and 2464 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 21,18,44,766 with 44,31,554 deaths. India reported 3,33,924 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,34,756 deaths while 3,16,80,626 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, will launch the National Monetisation Pipeline on Monday (23 August) at New Delhi. The National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) comprises a four-year pipeline of the Central Government's brownfield infrastructure assets.
Besides providing visibility to investors, NMP will also serve as a medium-term roadmap for the Asset Monetisation initiative of the Government. The Union Budget 2021-22 laid a lot of emphasis on Asset Monetisation as a means to raise innovative and alternative financing for infrastructure, and included a number of key announcements.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve said that railway has suffered a loss of Rs 36,000 crore due to the corona pandemic. Railway is facing a 48% loss in passenger service. He was speaking in an event organised at Jalna Railway station in Maharashtra.
Danve said, Mumbai-Nagpur High Speed train project is an ambitious project of the railway ministry and it is on priority list. Doubling of tracks between Manmad and Nanded will also be completed on priority basis. But other railway projects will be done after checking the feasibility of the project.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty IT index rose 1.67% to 33,907.30. The index declined 0.29% on Friday.
MindTree (up 4.90%), HCL Tech (up 4.26%), Larsen & Toubro Infotech (up 2.62%), TCS (up 2.18%), Coforge (up 1.51%), Wipro (up 1.35%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.13%), Mphasis (up 1.05%) and Infosys (up 0.38%) advanced while Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.49%) declined.
Stocks in Spotlight:
SRF added 0.66% to Rs 8960.85. The company informed that a meeting of the board of directors of the will be held on Tuesday, 31 August 2021 to consider issuance of bonus shares.
Ramkrishna Forgings fell 0.80% to Rs 866. The company said that its board will meet on Friday, 27 August 2021, to consider fund raising plans. The funds would be raised via issue of either equity or debt or any other methods or combination thereof, subject to necessary approvals.
Aurobindo Pharma added 0.23% to Rs 683. The company has terminated the agreement to acquire 51% ownership in Cronus Pharma. The company, on August 12, 2021, had entered into binding agreements with Cronus Pharma Specialities India for acquisition of 51% ownership in Cronus Pharma for an aggregate consideration of Rs 420 crore.
Cronus is a pharmaceutical company developing, manufacturing and distributing generic veterinary pharmaceutical products. Cronus has a factory at Hyderabad with 67 products in its pipeline, of which 22 have been filed and 6 have been approved by the Centre for Veterinary Medicine, USFDA. The acquisition would reportedly have provided Aurobindo Pharma a foothold in the $48 billion global animal health market.
Cadila Healthcare rose 2.09% to Rs 546.40. The pharmaceutical major said that the company has received the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D the world's first Plasmid DNA Vaccine for COVID-19.
Arvind Fashions jumped 9.50% to Rs 262.70. The company's board approved the preferential allotment of equity shares worth Rs 439 crore to various marquee investors including promoters at the price of Rs 218.50.
Steel Strips Wheels (SSWL) shed 0.38% to Rs 1700.60. The company announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for close to $105 million from Western Hemisphere. As per the MoU, SSWL will supply steel and aluminium wheels for a minimum period of three years. Supplies of steel wheels will begin from Chennai and Dappar plant by September 2021 and supplies from Mehsana plant for the aluminium wheels will begin by end of December 2021.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced across the board on Monday as traders sought to take advantage of last week's selloff while weighing risks from the delta virus strain and China's regulatory curbs.
Major U.S. stock averages rebounded on Friday boosted by tech stocks. Fed officials are set to gather for their annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo., from Thursday. Market participants will be awaiting insights into the Fed's taper talks as many central bankers aim to move away from easy policy.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content