Domestic equity benchmarks closed with strong gains on Monday. Metal and IT stocks were in demand while banks stocks lagged. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 307.82 points or 0.64% to 48,176.80. The Nifty 50 index rallied 114.40 points or 0.82% to 14,132.90. Both the indices attained record closing high levels.
The Sensex scaled a record high of 48,220.47 while the Nifty hit an all-time high of 14,147.95 in late trade today. Positive global cues and developments surrounding COVID-19 vaccine cheered investors.
TCS (up 3.79%), HCL Technologies (up 3.05%), Infosys (up 2.23%) and Hindustan Unilever (up 1.64%) were major market movers.
The broader market rallied. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.42% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.37%.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 2100 shares rose and 988 shares fell. A total of 166 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 8,51,23,361 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.
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."
Numbers to Watch:
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.859% as compared with 5.898% at close in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.02, compared with its close of 73.115 during the previous trading session.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2021 settlement rose 75 cents at $52.55 a barrel. The contract rose 17 cents, or 0.33% to settle at $51.80 a barrel in the previous trading session.
Foreign Markets:
The Dow Jones Futures 30 were trading 169 points higher, indicating a strong start in US markets today.
European shares advanced on Monday. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be the main focus for European markets, especially after U.K.'s separation from the EU was completed on New Year's Eve.
The U.K. is set to start rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, marking another step in the global battle against the pandemic. However, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that more restrictions were likely on the way as COVID-19 cases keep rising.
Asian stocks rose on Monday as the first trading day of 2021 kicked off. A private survey released Monday showed Chinese manufacturing activity expanding in December, with the Caixin/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the month coming in at 53.0. That compared against November's reading of 54.9. The 50-level in PMI readings separates expansion from contraction.
The final au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 50.0 in December from the previous month's 49.0 and a preliminary 49.7 reading. Investors are cautiously watching runoff elections in Georgia for two U.S. Senate seats on Tuesday that will determine which party controls the Senate.
Buzzing Indian Segment:
The Nifty Metal index surged 5.09% to 3,424.60. The index has jumped 7.36% in four sessions.
Tata Steel (up 8.37%), Hindalco Industries (up 6.9%), SAIL (up 6.85%), NALCO (up 6.65%), NMDC (up 5.8%), JSW Steel (up 3.58%), APL Apollo Tubes (up 2.97%), Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (up 2.87%), Welspun Corp (up 2.28%), MOIL (up 2.13%), Hindustan Zinc (up 2.07%), MIDHANI (up 1.33%) and Hindustan Copper (up 0.4%) advanced.
Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) rallied 6.87% 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.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.18%. RIL today (4 January 2021) sought urgent intervention of government authorities to stop the vandalism of Jio mobile towers by protesters agitating against the Centre's new farm laws. The petition for the same will be filed by the company's subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday (4 January 2021). "These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees and caused damage and disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales and service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two states, the conglomerate said in a statement.
Alkyl Amines Chemicals surged 14.63% after the company said that its board will consider stock split on 2 February 2021.
Cadila Healthcare gained 1.60% after the drug major on Sunday said it has received DCGI approval to initiate Phase-III clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D. The company announced that it will be starting Phase-III clinical trials of it plasmid DNA vaccine to prevent COVID-19, ZyCoV-D after having received permissions from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The firm will be initiating Phase-III clinical trial in around 30,000 volunteers. ZyCoV-D was found to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic in the Phase I/II clinical trials, as per the company's disclosure filed on Sunday, 3 January 2021.
Adani Green Energy rose 1.44%. 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 0.75%. 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.
Bajaj Auto added 1.12%. The two-wheeler maker's total sales rose 11% to 372,532 units in December 2020 from 336,055 units in December 2019. While total domestic sales declined by 9% to 139,606 units, total exports improved by 27% to 232,926 units in December 2020 over December 2019. During the month, the company's total two-wheeler sales increased by 19% year-on-year (YoY) to 338,584 units. In the commercial vehicles segment, Bajaj Auto sold 33,948 vehicles in December 2020, which is lower by 34% as compared to 51,253 vehicles sold in the same period last year.
BEML surged 3.45% after the company said that its promoter Government of India (GoI) has decided to divest 26% stake in the company through strategic disinvestment with transfer of management control. "GoI has appointed SBI Capital Markets (SBICAP) as its Transaction Advisor to advise and manage the strategic disinvestment process, the company said in a BSE filing made on Saturday (2 January 2021). BEML lastly said that the disinvestment process is to be implemented through open competitive bidding route.
CSB Bank gained 2.58% after the bank said that its total deposits increased 16.48% to Rs 17,752.97 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 15,241.11 crore in Q3 December 2019. Of the total deposits, CASA was at Rs 5,392.96 crore (up 23.88% YoY) while the term deposits were at 12,360.01 crore (up 13.52% YoY) as on 31 December 2020. The bank's gross advances surged 22.64% to Rs 13,425.24 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 10,947.28 crore in Q3 December 2019. Advances against gold & gold jewellery during the December 2020 quarter jumped by 60.36% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 5,633.75 crore.
Federal Bank jumped 3.67% after the bank's total deposits increased by 12% to Rs 1,61,670 crore in Q3 FY21 from Rs 1,44,592 crore in Q3 FY20. At the end of the December 2020 quarter, the private lender's customer deposits were at Rs 1,56,973 crore (up 13% YoY), interbank deposits were at Rs 2,849 crore (up 51% YoY) and certificates of deposit stood at Rs 1,848 crore (down 57% YoY).
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