Sensex adds 181 pts, Nifty closes near 13,400

Domestic indices ended with modest gains after hitting record high levels on Tuesday. Gains were capped due to negative global shares on fresh concerns about a surge in Covid-19 infections. PSU banks soared while metal and pharma shares declined.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 181.54 points or 0.4% at 45,608.51. The Nifty 50 index gained 37.2 points or 0.28% to 13,392.05.

The Sensex hit a record high of 45,742.23 in mid-afternoon trade while the Nifty scaled record high of 13,435.45 in morning trade.

The broader market corrected on profit booking. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.11% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 0.25%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1496 shares rose and 1459 shares fell. A total of 176 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech filed an application seeking emergency use authorisation for Covaxin on Monday, becoming the third company to seek such regulatory approval in India after Pfizer and Serum Institute of India (SII). Covaxin is the first fully locally developed vaccine candidate against COVID-19 that will be considered for emergency use authorisation in the country.

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 6,75,92,458 with 15,44,543 deaths. India reported 3,83,866 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,40,958 deaths while 91,78,946 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday raised India's GDP forecast to -9.4% in the current fiscal year to March 2021 from a previously projected contraction of 10.5% after the economy staged a sharper rebound in the second quarter. The projections compare to a GDP growth of 4.2% in 2019-20 (April 2019 to March 2020) fiscal and 6.7% annual expansion between 2015 and 2019.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index gained 0.95% to 22,653.90, extending its winning run to third trading session. The index has added 2% in three days.

TCS (up 2.28%), Wipro (up 1.53%), Infosys (up 1.29%), HCL Technologies (up 1.22%) and Coforge (up 0.89%) were top gainers in IT segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Titan Company rose 0.01%. The company's board at its meeting held on Monday (7 December) decided to request the FLAG management to scale down its operations substantially with immediate effect so that further investments from Titan to FLAG cease as early as possible. Consequently, this will lead to Titan making provisions in the current financial year for additional impairment pertaining to its investments in FLAG, in addition to the impairment of Rs 145 crore already made in earlier years.

TVS Srichakra surged 5.65% after the tyre maker announced its planned capital expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore to ramp up manufacturing in its Madurai and Pantnagar plants. The company said that the investment is planned over a three-year period. The investment, when fully made, will result in an increase in 2-wheeler & 3-wheeler tyre capacity by 25-30% and doubling of off-highway tyre capacity from current levels. The investment is planned to be funded by a mix of debt and internal accruals.

Indoco Remedies fell 4.08%. The pharma company on Tuesday announced that it has won major tenders worth Rs 140 crore in Germany including the AOK for Allopurinol tablets. The expected revenue from Allopurinol tablets business is Rs 70 crore per annum. The supplies to Germany will begin from January 2021 and continue till end of 2022. API consumption will be approximately 100 metric tons per year for this supply. Indoco manufactures Allopurinol API at its new API manufacturing site at Patalganga. The new API site has a capacity to manufacture 25 tons of Allopurinol per month or 300 tons annually.

Godrej Properties gained 3.82%. The realty player announced that it has entered into an outright transaction to purchase a well located land parcel in Whitefield, Bangalore. Spread across approximately 18 acres, this project will offer 0.22 million square meters (2.4 million square feet) of saleable area comprising primarily of residential apartments of various configurations.

Goa Carbon hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 287.35. The company said its production slipped 7.16% to 14,309.20 million tonnes (MT) in November 2020 as against 15,413.90 MT in November 2019. On a month-on-month (M-o-M) basis, the company's production soared 58.88% in November 2020 from 9,006 MT in October 2020.

Cupid gained 0.96% to Rs 253.35 after the company announced that it has received a purchase order from Uttar Pradesh Medical Supplies Corporation for the supply of COVID-19 Antigen Based Rapid Test Kits worth Rs 8.27 crore.

Technocraft Industries (India) soared nearly 9% after Sunil Singhania-owned Abakkus Emerging Opportunities Fund bought 5.74 crore shares of the company via bulk deal on Monday. According NSE bulk deals data, Abakkus Emerging Opportunities Fund - 1 bought 5,74,842 shares (equivalent to 2.35% equity) of Technocraft Industries at an average price of Rs 311 apiece.

TTK Prestige fell 0.17%. The company said that its UK subsidiary Horwood Homewares (HHL) entered into firm agreements to end the joint venture (JV) Horwood Life with Ecosoul Life by divesting its 51% stake in the joint venture. "While there will be onetime impairment to the extent of GBP 869,000 in the books of HHL on account of this exit, HHL will be saving significant recurring overheads from second half of FY 21 thus improving its operating profits, TTK Prestige said in a statement.

Global Markets:

European shares declined on Tuesday amid Brexit deal uncertainty. The U.K. and the European Union are making last efforts to reach a post-Brexit trade deal this week. Both sides remain divided over three issues: fisheries, competition rules and governance of their potential deal. They have been stuck on these three areas since early summer. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to head to Brussels this week in a last-ditch attempt to secure a Brexit deal.

Most Asian stocks closed lower as investors remained cautious over rising coronavirus cases, U.S. stimulus negotiations as well as Brexit talks between the U.K. and the European Union.

In US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell on Monday as traders worried about rising coronavirus cases and searched for clues on additional fiscal aid. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, rose 0.5% to 12,519.95 and hit a fresh record high.

Meanwhile, Japan will compile a fresh economic stimulus package worth 73.6 trillion yen ($708 billion), Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday, signalling his resolve to pull the country out of its coronavirus crisis-induced slump. The new stimulus package will include fiscal spending worth around 40 trillion yen, Suga said.

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