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Sensex rallies 246 pts, Nifty closes above 13,900

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Capital Market
Last Updated : Dec 29 2020 | 4:04 PM IST
Equity indices closed with decent gains on Tuesday. The Nifty managed to close above the crucial 13,900 mark. Buying was seen in bank, financial and IT stocks while metal, realty and auto shares corrected. Positive global cues supported the rally.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rallied 246.61 points or 0.52% to 47,600.75. The Nifty 50 index added 54.9 points or 0.4% to 13,928.25.

The Sensex hit a fresh record high of 47,714.55 while the Nifty scaled an all-time high of 13,967.60 in morning trade. Investor sentiment was upbeat after President Trump signed a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid while the U.K. and the E.U. struck a Brexit trade deal last week.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.07% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.16%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,525 shares rose and 1,484 shares fell. A total of 171 shares were unchanged.

On Monday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,588.93 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,386.55 crore, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

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Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 8,12,78,435 with 17,74,395 deaths. India reported 2,68,581 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,48,153 deaths while 98,07,569 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Meanwhile, India recorded 6 cases of a mutant strain of COVID-19, which is 70% more transmissible. It was first reported in the United Kingdom a few days ago.

All six patients recently returned from Britain. As per a government statement, three samples in NIMHANS of Bengaluru, two in CCMB, Hyderabad and one in NIV, Pune have been detected out of all the samples tested.

Economy:

The Ministry of Finance has released the 9th weekly installment of Rs 6,000 crore to the states to meet the GST compensation shortfall. Out of this, an amount of over Rs 5,516 crore has been released to 23 states and an amount of over Rs 483 crore has been released to the three Union Territories with Legislative Assembly, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry who are members of the GST Council. The remaining five states, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation. The amount released this week was the 9th instalment of such funds provided to the states. The amount has been borrowed this week at an interest rate of 5.15%.

Stocks in Spotlight:

ICICI Bank gained 1.81%. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) sold 2.002% stake of the private lender between 27 November 2018 and 24 December 2020. Post transaction, LIC's stake in ICICI Bank reduced to 6.744% from 8.746% earlier.

HDFC Bank rose 0.81%. The board of directors of HDFC Bank has recommended the appointment of the part-time chairperson of the bank and has submitted its recommendation to the Reserve Bank of India for approval. The tenure of the existing part-time chairperson of the bank, Shyamala Gopinath, shall end at the close of business hours of 1 January 2021, pursuant to the tenure approved by the Reserve Bank of India.

Titan Company slipped 0.19%. The company's board approved corporate guarantees worth Rs 906 crore to various banks on behalf of wholly-owned subsidiary, Titan Commodity Trading. The corporate guarantees are provided by the company to guarantee funding limits to be availed by Titan Commodity up to Rs 906 crore from various banks. These guarantees are against overall limits being availed by Titan Commodity primarily required for issuing bank guarantees to Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) against margin and for meeting other working capital requirements.

Ahluwalia Contracts (India) rallied 3.89% after the company said it has secured new order aggregating to Rs 309.44 crore. The order calls for construction of high-rise multi storied residential complex, located at Z-1, Project, Phase-III, Nandankanan Road, in Bhubaneswar (Orissa). The total order inflow during the FY21 stands at Rs 2,086.44 crore.

Biocon fell 1.14%. The pharmaceutical company said it has expanded generic formulations portfolio with the launch of Tacrolimus capsules in the US. Tacrolimus, a calcineurin inhibitor, is an immunosuppressant used in the treatment of organ transplant patients, which reduces the body's ability to reject a transplanted organ. It has been particularly effective in treating patients of renal transplant for more than two decades.

TVS Motor Company rose 0.87%. The company introduced the 2021 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V with Bluetooth enabled TVS SmartXonnect in Bangladesh. This is the first-of-its-kind two-wheeler connected cluster technology in the country.

Great Eastern Shipping Company (G E Shipping) fell 0.19%. The company delivered its 2000-built Suezmax Crude Carrier "Jag Lateef" to the buyers, contracted for sale in November 2020. G E Shipping's current fleet stands at 46 vessels, comprising 33 tankers (10 crude carriers, 18 product tankers, 5 LPG carrier) and 13 dry bulk carriers with an average age of 12.24 years aggregating 3.66 million deadweight tonnage (mn dwt).

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones Futures 30 were trading 155 points higher, indicating a strong start in US market today.

European markets advanced as traders reacted to Brexit developments and President Donald Trump signing a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill into law.

The Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the EU was announced. The agreement, sealed after markets closed on 24 December 2020, still needs to be approved this week by U.K. lawmakers before the 31 December 2020 deadline. The 27 ambassadors from EU member nations on Monday formally approved the deal.

Most Asian markets climbed on Tuesday as investor risk appetite improved on hopes that the long-awaited U.S. pandemic relief package would be expanded. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 hit levels not seen since August 1990.

In US, stocks rallied on Monday, with each of Wall Street's main indexes closing at record levels as President Donald Trump's signing of a long-awaited $2.3 trillion pandemic aid bill increased optimism for an economic recovery.

Trump averted a government shutdown late Sunday, and extended unemployment benefits to millions of Americans. The signing came days after Trump suggested he would veto the legislation, demanding $2,000 direct payments to Americans, instead of $600.

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First Published: Dec 29 2020 | 3:33 PM IST

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