Benchmark indices firmed up once again in afternoon trade. Realty, media and metal stocks were in demand while IT, FMCG and PSU banks witnessed selloff. At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 9.80 points or 0.02% at 47,736.42. The Nifty 50 index rose 9.95 points or 0.07% at 13,991.90.
The S&P BSE Sensex hit a record high of 47,865.56 while the Nifty index hit 14,010.15 in morning trade.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.26%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.41%.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,723 shares rose and 1,127 shares fell. A total of 166 shares were unchanged.
Gainers & Losers:
HDFC (up 1.90%), ICICI Bank (up 1.24%), Tata Steel (up 1.04%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.86%) and Tata Motors (up 0.68%) were top gainers in Nifty 50 index.
Shree Cement (down 1.97%), Ultratech Cement Co. (down 1.43%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.25%), TCS (down 1.18%) and Grasim Industries (down 0.90%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,824.52 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 587.43 crore in the Indian equity market on 30 December 2020, provisional data showed.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 8,27,09,354 with 18,05,035 deaths. India reported 2,57,656 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,48,738 deaths while 98,60,280 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
As per the Reserve Bank of India, India's current account surplus shrank to $15.5 billion in the July-September quarter from a record $19.2 billion in April-June as its merchandise trade deficit grew. The surplus stood at 2.4% of the gross domestic product in the latest quarter, compared with a deficit of $7.6 billion, or 1.1% of GDP, in the same period a year ago, RBI data showed.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rose 0.37%. The company's construction arm secured 'significant' orders from prestigious clients for two of its businesses. As per L&T's classification, the valuation of the 'significant' contract lies between Rs 1,000 to 2,500 crore.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) advanced 2.40% after the company said it bagged orders worth Rs 3,200 crore for hydro projects. BHEL has bagged orders valued at Rs 3,200 crore, for Electro-Mechanical (E&M) works for a Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Andhra Pradesh and E&M works of pump-motor sets for lift irrigation schemes (LIS) in Telangana.
The orders have been received from the EPC contractor for the projects Megha Engineering & Infrastructure (MEIL) and BHEL's scope of work in all the above projects includes design, engineering, manufacturing, supply and supervision of erection, testing & commissioning of the equipment and associated auxiliaries.
Filatex India jumped 4.55% after the company announced commencement of captive generation of Solar power at its Dahej and Dadra units. Filatex India said that its proposed installation of captive rooftop solar power generation of 1.0 megawatts (MW) at Dahej and 0.4 MW at Dadra has been successfully completed and commenced commercial operation from 30 December 2020.
Global Markets:
European stocks opened lower on Wednesday after U.K. lawmakers approved a Brexit trade deal and investors reacted to further positive COVID-19 vaccine developments. A coronavirus vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford while AstraZeneca is being authorized for emergency use in the U.K. Still, the U.K. government outlined plans on Wednesday to impose stricter coronavirus restrictions on millions of people across England as a new strain of the virus spreads across the country.
The announcement will allow the U.K. to greatly expand its COVID-19 immunization program started in December 2020. So far, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been given to 600,000 people in the U.K.
Asian stocks advanced on Thursday. China on Thursday said its factory activity expanded in December. The country's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for December came in at 51.9, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. That was a slight decline compared to November's reading of 52.1. Still, the December figure was above the 50-level that separates expansion from contraction.
In US, stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Industrials nudging up to a record, as investors looked towards an improving economic outlook in 2021 on the back of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts and hopes for even more fiscal support.
The U.S. trade deficit in goods climbed to $84.8 billion in November from $80.4 billion the month before. Pending home sales slid 2.6% in November.
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