The domestic equity benchmarks ended near the day's high on Monday, supported by positive global cues. Barring the Nifty Pharma index, all the other sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. Banks, metals and realty stocks rallied.
As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 380.21 points or 0.81% to 47,353.75. The Nifty 50 index added 134 points or 0.97% to 13,883.25.
Investor sentiment was upbeat after the U.S. President Trump signed a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid while the U.K. and the E.U. struck a a Brexit trade deal last week.
The broader market ended firm. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.83% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rallied 1.49%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2027 shares rose and 991 shares fell. A total of 179 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
More From This Section
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 80,762,012 with 1,764,317 deaths. India reported 277,301 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 147,901 deaths while 9,782,669 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 2.77% to 1,751.05. The index has added 6.56% in three sessions.
Canara Bank (up 3.64%), SBI (up 3.26%), Punjab National Bank (up 2.86%), UCO Bank (up 2.81%), Bank Of Baroda (up 2.71%), Union Bank of India (up 2.34%), Indian Bank (up 1.85%), CBI (up 1.08%), Jammu and Kashmir Bank (up 1.08%), Indian Overseas Bank (up 0.94%), Bank of India (up 0.72%) and Bank of Maharashtra (up 0.38%) advanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Biocon slipped 3.10% to Rs 466.85. The company said that its subsidiary, Biocon Biologics, had been informed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a deferred action on the Biologics license application (BLA) for MYL-1402O, a proposed biosimilar to Avastin (bevacizumab). Avastin is a cancer medicine that interferes with the growth and spread of cancer cells in the body.
Biocon further said that to complete the application, the Agency noted that an inspection of the manufacturing facility is required as a part of the standard review process. However, due to restrictions on travel related to COVID-19, the Agency is unable to conduct an inspection during the current review cycle. We await the dates for the inspection, it added.
Reliance Industries (RIL) added 0.47% to Rs 2003.25. The company said that it will acquire 50% shares held by IMG Singapore in IMG-Reliance, for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs 52.08 crore. IMG Reliance (IMG-R) is a joint venture between IMG Worldwide LLC (IMG) and the Company. IMG Singapore, a wholly owned subsidiary of IMG, holds 50% of the share capital of IMG-R.
IMG-R is engaged in the business of creation, management, implementation and commercialisation of sporting, fashion and entertainment events in India. Post completion of acquisition, RIL will rebrand sports and fashion joint venture IMG-R as its completely owned subsidiary.
Paisalo Digital hit an upper circuit of 20% at Rs 625.55. As per the bulk deal data on the NSE, SBI Life Insurance Company on Thursday (24 December 2020) bought 38,00,000 shares (8.98% of equity) of Paisalo Digital at average price of Rs 490 per share.
Meanwhile, Antara India Evergreen Fund (sold 3.54%), Davos International Fund (sold 0.68%), Elara India Opportunities Fund (sold 2.6%) and Heshika Growth Fund (sold 1.89%) pared their stake in the company at average price of Rs 490.
Dixon Technologies (India) jumped 5.52% to Rs 13424.45. The company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Padget Electronics, has signed an agreement with Motorola for manufacturing of smartphones. The products will be manufactured at Padget's manufacturing facility situated at Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Cadila Healthcare shed 0.23% at Rs 488.50. The drug maker announced on Thursday (24 December 2020) that its plasmid DNA vaccine to prevent COVID-19, ZyCoV-D was found to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic in the Phase I/II clinical trials. The company is now planning to initiate Phase III clinical trial in around 30,000 volunteers upon receiving necessary approvals.
The Phase II study of the vaccine ZyCoV-D had been conducted in over 1000 healthy adult volunteers as part of the adaptive Phase I/II dose escalation, multi-centric, randomized, double-blind placebo controlled study. The vaccine was found to be safe and immunogenic. The trial has been reviewed by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) and reports have been submitted to Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) regularly for the update on safety outcome.
Coal India gained 2.17% to Rs 139.15. The state-run coal miner announced that its board has accorded its approval to venture into aluminium chain and solar power value chain. The company will set up three specific-purpose vehicles (SPVs) subject to obtaining concurrence from Niti Aayog and DIPAM. The company will set up solar power value chain business vertical, new & renewable energy (non-conventional) business vertical and Integrated Aluminium complex: a greenfield project by Central Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India.
NIIT advanced 3.44% to Rs 207.30 after the company said its board approved a proposal to buyback upto 98.75 lakh equity shares at Rs 240 each for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 237 crore. The buyback amounts to approximately 6.978% of the total issued and paid up equity share capital of the company.
Westlife Development rose 3.35% to Rs 445.30. The company said that it had resumed new store openings across its markets. The Company has opened four new stores post March 2020 as it steadily continues to move towards pre-COVID levels of business. In another development, the royalty for FY21 as also FY 22 remains at 4%, it added.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Monday. Traders reacted to the announcement of a Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the EU. The agreement, sealed after markets closed on 24 December, still needs to be approved this week by U.K. lawmakers before the 31 December deadline.
US President Donald Trump averted a government shutdown late Sunday, and extended unemployment benefits to millions of Americans. Trump signed a $2.3 trillion funding measure that includes $900 billion for coronavirus relief and $1.4 trillion for government funding through next September. The signing came days after Trump suggested he would veto the legislation, demanding $2,000 direct payments to Americans, instead of $600.
Meanwhile, shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba in Hong Kong were in the spotlight once again on Monday. That came after Chinese regulators ordered Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group to rectify its businesses. The stock had also dived last Thursday following reports that Chinese regulators will probe the tech behemoth for suspected monopolistic behaviour.
Profits at Chinese industrial firms in November rose 15.5% as compared with a year earlier, according to data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics over the weekend.
In US, the S&P 500 ended higher at the close of a shortened session on Thursday as investors headed into the long Christmas weekend.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News