The benchmark indices were trading with small gains in early afternoon trade. Positive global cues and developments on COVID-19 vaccine cheered investors. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 106.79 points or 0.22% at 47,975.77. The Nifty 50 index gained 50.95 points or 0.36% at 14,069.45.
The Sensex hit a record high of 48,168.22 and the Nifty hit a record high of 14,114.15 in morning trade today.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.78% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.82%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,914 shares rose and 997 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 4.44% to 20.43. The Nifty January 2021 futures were trading at 14,088.10, at a premium of 34.05 point compared with the spot at 14,054.05.
The Nifty option chain for 28 January 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 21.34 lakh contracts at the 14,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 24.29 lakh contracts was seen at 13,000 strike price.
Economy:
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was at 56.4 in December, a tick higher than November's reading of 56.3 and above the critical 50.0 threshold for the fifth straight month.
Commenting on the latest survey results, Pollyanna De Lima, Economics Associate Director at IHS Markit said, "The latest PMI results for the Indian manufacturing sector continued to point to an economy on the mend, as a supportive demand environment and firms' efforts to rebuild safety stocks underpinned another sharp rise in production. It's important to emphasise the broad-based nature of the recovery, with marked expansions in both sales and output noted across each of the three monitored sub-sectors."
"Once again, the survey brought the bad news of falling employment. However, the trend for jobs is at least moving in the right direction as the rate of contraction softened to the weakest in the current nine-month period of reduction. The latest available official data pointed to a 3.5% annual increase in manufacturing production during October, when the PMI Output Index had strengthened considerably. In the two months since, growth lost some momentum and we are likely to see the official results showing a similar pattern."
Coronavirus Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 8,51,22,080 with 18,43,143 deaths. India reported 2,43,953 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,49,649 deaths while 99,46,867 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Meanwhile, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on January 3 reportedly granted restricted emergency use authorisation for the Serum Institute of India (SII)'s 'Covishield' and Bharat Biotech's 'Covaxin' vaccines against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The 'Covishield' vaccine, developed by University of Oxford and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, is being produced in the country by the Serum Institute. Bharat Biotech has developed 'Covaxin' - India's first indigenous vaccine against COVID-19.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty IT index rose 1.39% to 24,795.15. L&T Infotech (up 2.12%), Coforge (up 2.11%), TCS (up 2.09%), HCL Technologies (up 1.61%) and Wipro (up 1.61%) were the top gainers in IT segment.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Adani Green Energy rose 0.80%. Adani Renewable Energy Holding Eight (AREHEightL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Green Energy (AGEL) received LOA for 600 MW WindSolar Hybrid project. AREHEightL participated in a tender issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for setting up 1,200 MW ISTS-connected Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Project.
The fixed tariff for this project capacity is Rs. 2.41/ kWh for a period of 25 years. The project is expected to be commissioned in 18 months from the effective date of PPA. With this project, total renewable energy project capacity of AGEL now stands at 14,795 MW, of which 2,950 MW projects are operational and 11,845 MW projects are under implementation.
Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones (APSEZ) fell 1.10%. The company handled cargo volume of 27.2 million metric tonnes (MMT) in December 2020 (including cargo volume of 3.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of Krishnapatnam Port acquired in October 2020).The growth excluding Krishnapatnam Port Co. (KPCL) was 14% on month-on-month (M-o-M) basis and 28% on year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis.
In December 2020, Mundra port handled highest ever cargo volume of 15.24 million metric tonnes (MMT) registering a cargo volume growth of 44% on Y-o-Y basis. It also achieved highest container throughput of 5,86,952 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU)'s and continues to be the largest container port in the country.
Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) rallied 4.92% after the company recorded highest ever production and sales in December 2020. JSPL Steel operations reported their highest ever monthly production volumes with 7.27 lakh tonnes during December 2020, recording a 30.05% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) rise from 5.59 lakh tonnes in December 2019. On a month-on-month (M-o-M) basis, production soared 18.40% in December 2020 from 6.14 lakh tonnes in November 2020.
On a Y-o-Y basis, sales surged 25.39% to 7.11 lakh tonnes in December 2020 compared with 5.67 lakh tonnes in December 2019. On M-o-M basis, sales jumped 25.84% in December 2020 from 5.65 lakh tonnes in November 2020.
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