The market ended with sharp gains in Thursday, backed by encouraging domestic cues and supportive global stock markets. Positive data such as GST revenue collection crossing Rs 1 lakh crore in December and Indian manufacturing PMI hitting 7-month high in December triggered a broader rally.
The barometer index, the BSE Sensex, rose 320.62 points or 0.78% to 41,626.64. The Nifty 50 index rose 100.45 points or 0.82% to 12,282.95, its record closing high.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 1.23% while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.44%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 1732 shares advanced while 794 shares declined. A total of 170 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
The IHS Markit India Manufacturing PMI rose to a seven-month high of 52.7 in December 2019 from 51.2 in the prior month. The number pointed to the joint-strongest improvement in the health of the sector for ten months. However, owing to a weak performance in October and November, the average quarterly reading for Q3 FY19/20 was the lowest since the three months to September 2017.
Factories benefited from a rebound in demand, and responded by scaling up production to the greatest extent since May. There were also renewed increases in input purchasing and employment during December. However, the degree of optimism signalled at the end of 2019 was the weakest in just under three years, reflecting concerns over market conditions, which could restrict job creation and investment in the early part of 2020. At the same time, price indicators showed accelerated rates of inflation for both input costs and output charges. The latter reflected a combination of improved pricing power, given the favourable demand environment, and efforts to protect margins from cost rises, Pollyanna de Lima, principal economist at IHS Markit, said.
Meanwhile, the goods and services tax collections grew about 9% in December to Rs 1.03 lakh crore, from Rs 94,726 crore a year earlier, the government said on Wednesday. The gross collections include Central GST (CGST) of Rs 19,962 crore, State GST (SGST) of Rs 26,792 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) of Rs 48,099 crore (including Rs 21,295 crore collected on imports) and Cess of Rs 8,331 crore (including Rs 847 crore collected on imports).
Numbers to Track:
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 71.35 compared with its previous closing low of 71.225.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2020 settlement was up 27 cents at $66.27 a barrel.
Buzzing Sector:
Cement shares were in demand. Ambuja Cements (up 4.34%), UltraTech Cement (up 4.27%) and ACC (up 3.73%) surged.
Grasim Industries, the parent company of UltraTech Cement, jumped 3.24%.
The Nifty Metal index rose 2.68% to 2,870.85, outperforming other sectoral indices on the NSE.
Hindustan Copper (up 19.93%), NALCO (up 6.24%), Tata Steel (up 3.68%), Vedanta (up 3.2%), JSW Steel (up 3.09%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.75%), NMDC (up 2.06%) and Hindustan Zinc (up 1.95%) advanced.
Steel Authority of India (SAIL) surged 9.67% after the steel-maker said that it has achieved the highest ever sales in a month during December 2019. With sales of 1.68 million tonnes in December 2019, the company clocked a growth of 47% over corresponding period last year (CPLY), the company said in a press release. Incidentally, SAIL posted a jump of 36% y-o-y in sales during November and the company is consistently maintaining the growth momentum in sales, it said.
Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) jumped 4.27%. JSPL's total crude steel and related production stood at 1.61 million tonnes in Q3 December 2019, up 22% compared to 1.32 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year.
During Q3 December 2019, JSPL recorded a growth of 30% in sales at 1.66 million tonnes as against 1.27 million tonnes in the same period last year. Export shipments increased to more than 3 lakh MT, an increase of 213% (Y-o-Y) during Q3 December 2019.
MOIL jumped 5.75% after the company revised the prices of different grades of manganese ore and other products, effective from 1 January 2020.
The Nifty Auto index rose 0.64% to 8,262.75. Escorts (up 2.2%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.61%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.27%) advanced. Hero MotoCorp fell 0.1%.
Tata Motors rose 5.12% after reporting 14.05% jump in total auto sales to 46,903 units in December 2019 compared with 41,124 units in November 2019. Total auto sales, however, fell 13.84% last month from 54,439 units in December 2018. Total domestic sales declined 12% to 44,254 units in December 2019 as compared to 50,440 units in December 2018. Passenger vehicles segment saw sales decline 10% to 12,785 units while the commercial vehicles sales witnessed 15% fall to 34,082 units in December 2019 over December 2018.
TVS Motor Company declined 2.11%. The company registered 14.76% declined in total sales to 2.31 lakh units in December 2019 as against sales of 2.71 units in the month of December 2018.
Bajaj Auto slipped 0.90% after the company reported 16.66% decline in total auto sales to 3.36 lakh units in December 2019 from 4.03 lakh units in November 2019. The total auto sales, however, fell marginally by 3% from 3.46 lakh units in December 2018. Total domestic auto sales fell 15% to 1.53 lakh units while total exports rose 10% to 1.82 lakh units in December 2019 over December 2018.
Ashok Leyland rose 3.64% after the company reported 9.76% jump in total vehicle sales to 11,168 units in December 2019 from 10,175 units in November 2019. Total sales dropped 28% last month from 15,490 units in December 2018. Domestic vehicle sales slumped 29% to 10,378 units in December 2019 from 14,718 units in December 2018.
Eicher Motors slipped 2.36%. The company's total commercial vehicles (CV) sales declined 19.1% to 5,042 units in December 2019 from 6,236 units in December 2018. Total two-wheeler sales fell 13% to 50,416 units in December 2019 as against 58,278 units in December 2018.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Index pivotals, Larsen & Toubro (up 2.66%), Reliance Industries (RIL) (up 1.70%) and HDFC (up 1.33%) advanced.
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise jumped 4.73% after Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAl) on 1 January 2020 approved HDFC's bid to acquire 50.8% stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company (AMHI). Competition Commission of India (CCI), and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have already approved the deal.
Sterlite Technologies (STL) jumped 6.77% after the company said it secured a multi-year deal worth about Rs 1800 crore to design, build and manage a rural broadband network across 3,000 gram panchayats in Telangana.
Prakash Industries surged 18.27% after the company announced that it has secured long-term coal linkages of 1.69 lakh MT per annum for the next five years for its sixth sponge iron kiln.
Marico fell 2.53% after the FMCG major in its Q3 update said consumption trends fell below expectations amid soft demand for products. Category growths across personal care remained under pressure, while foods and allied categories fared relatively better, it said.
Bharat Bond ETFs, India's first corporate bond ETFs, got listed on stock exchanges today. Bharat Bond ETF - April 2023 traded between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,001.85 on NSE today while the Bharat Bond ETF - April 2030 between Rs 1,000.40 and Rs 1,004.90, as compared to the offer price of Rs 1,000 in both the issues.
The issue had raised Rs 12,400 crore from its maiden offer that had opened for subscription between 12 and 20 December 2019. The funds raised would be utilised for capex of PSUs. The ETF will invest only in AAA-rated bonds of public sector companies and have target maturity structures.
Foreign Markets:
European markets traded higher while Asian markets ended mostly higher buoyed by Beijing easing monetary policy to support slowing growth.
China's central bank on Wednesday said that it would cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, releasing around 800 billion yuan in funds effective 6 January 2020.
A private survey released on Thursday showed China's manufacturing activity expanded in the month of December. The Markit/Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing came in at 51.5, compared to 51.8 in November.
In US, markets were closed on account of the New Year holiday on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Phase 1 of trade deal with China would be signed on 15 January at the White House. Trump tweeted that he would sign the deal with high level representatives of China and that he would later travel to Beijing to begin talks on the next phase.
The Phase 1 deal, struck earlier this month, is expected to reduce tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of American farm, energy and manufactured goods while addressing some disputes over intellectual property.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
