Barometers traded in a range with modest gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the crucial 13,900 mark. At 14:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 210 points or 0.44% at 47,563.49. The Nifty 50 index gained 45.6 points or 0.33% at 13,918.80.
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 0.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.22%.
The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1,484 shares rose and 1,435 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.
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 in the Indian equity market on 28 December 2020, provisional data showed.
COVID-19 Update:
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%.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Auto was down 0.22% to 9,046.75, snapping its four day winning run. The index added 3.68% in the past four sessions.
Motherson Sumi Systems (down 1.99%), Tata Motors (down 1.34%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 0.76%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.35%), Bosch (down 0.32%), Ashok Leyland (down 0.26%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 0.17%) declined.
The media reported that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed mandatory airbags to be provided for the passenger seated on the front seat of a vehicle, next to the driver. The proposed timelines for implementation is 1 April 2021.
Numbers to Track:
In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged higher to 73.4150 as compared to its previous closing of 73.49.
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper was unchanged at 5.925%.
MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement added 0.12% to Rs 50,075.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.33% to 89.977.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2020 settlement rose 67 cents to $51.53 a barrel. The contract fell 0.74% to settle at $50.91 in the previous trading session.
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