Key indices opened marginally lower on selling in select stocks. At 9:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 55.59 points or 0.13% at 41,625.95. The Nifty 50 index was down 9.55 points or 0.08% at 12,262.25.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.20%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.16%. Both this indices outperformed the BSE Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 485 shares rose and 330 shares fell. A total of 71 shares were unchanged.
Among stocks, KEC International was up 2.70%. KEC International said it has secured new orders of Rs 1,520 crore across its various businesses. The urban transport business has secured an order of Rs 964 crore for the construction of elevated via duct along with 8 stations of the Delhi Metro Phase IV project, from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The transmission & distribution business has secured two orders of Rs 391 crore for construction of 400 kV transmission lines in Nepal. The railways business has secured an order of Rs 165 crore for construction of road over bridges in Western India. The announcement was made on Saturday, 21 December 2019.
Jammu & Kashmir Bank was up 0.67%. Jammu & Kashmir Bank said Reserve Bank of India has found that it has under-reported bad loans by Rs 884 crore in the year ended 31 March 2019. Gross NPA divergence was at Rs 195 crore and FY 2019 NET NPA was Rs 689 crore in the year ended 31 March 2019. Out of Rs 884 crores divergence in provision for NPA, the bank has already made provision of Rs 54 crore upto 30 June 2019. Hence the remaining impact is Rs 830 crore. The Bank had previously reported net profit of Rs 464.88 crore for FY 2019. Thus, adjusted (notional) net profit for FY 2019 after taking into account the divergence in provisioning turns into net loss of Rs 109.46 crore.
Prestige Estates Projects gained 1.41%. Prestige Estates Projects said its board approved issue and allotment of 13,441,654 equity shares at a price not less than floor price of Rs 323.22 per share to GAMNAT Pte Ltd by way of preferential issue. The board also approved increase in the authorized share capital of the Company and amendments to Clause V of the Memorandum of Association of the Company Issue of Securities to Qualified Institutional Buyers.
Wipro rose 0.62%. Wipro said it has partnered with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) to launch the FutureSkills platform for 10,000 students from over 20 engineering colleges in lndia. This initiative will create a talent pool of students, certified by Wipro and NASSCOM. This is a part of Wipro's Corporate Social Responsibility programme, TalentNext which aims to enhance the quality of engineering education by preparing faculty and academic leaders to train students. The programme will help students keep pace with the emerging technologies - Artificial intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) - to make them future-ready.
Rallis India was up 0.92%. Rallis India said The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench, approved the merger of Metahelix Life Sciences with Rallis India by absorption of Metahelix Life Sciences (Transferor company') with Rallis India (Transferee company') and their respective shareholders. The certified copy of the Order from NCLT for the same is awaited. The NCLT Bengaluru Bench sanctioned the scheme vide its order dated 11 November 2019. Metahelix Life Sciences is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rallis lndia.
Overseas, most Asian markets were trading higher on Monday after US markets posted more record highs.
In US, stock indexes set records highs on Friday, after encouraging US economic data and optimism about international trade deals helped end the decade's last full week of trading on a high note.
On economic front, the Commerce Department's third estimate of third-quarter GDP, published on Friday, left growth unchanged 2.1%, with strong consumer spending offset by weaker business investment in inventories.
In other US economic data, Americans increased spending in November at the fastest rate in four months.
Wall Street sentiment also remains supported by progress on international trade policy, after the US House passed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) bill to replace North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Thursday and the US and China agreed on a partial deal last Friday.
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