The domestic equity benchmarks ended the session near the day's high on Wednesday, mirroring positive global shares. Barring the Nifty PSU Bank index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. The S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 403.29 points or 0.87% at 46,666.46. The Nifty 50 index advanced 114.85 points or 0.85% at 13,682.70. Both the indices attained record closing high levels.
The Sensex hit a record high of 46,704.97 and the Nifty hit a record high of 13,692.35 in late trade. A possible approval of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine this week and progress in US stimulus talks lifted sentiment. The US Federal Reserve will issue an updated policy statement along with new economic projections on Wednesday. Traders will be watching closely for any changes to Fed view on when its benchmark policy rate might rise off zero.
The buying was broad based. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.87% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.88%, outperforming the Sensex.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1859 shares rose and 1165 shares fell. A total of 174 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 7,34,76,721 with 16,35,464 deaths. India reported 3,32,002 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,44,096 deaths while 94,56,449 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Kerala Local Body Election Update:
Counting of votes polled in Kerala local body elections is under way at 244 centres in the state. A total of 21,893 wards in 1,200 local self-governing bodies including 6 corporations, 941 village panchayats, 14 district panchayats and 87 municipalities, went to polls in three phases on 8, 10 and 14 December 2020.
Initial trends from the counting of votes to the local body elections in Kerala show a clear advantage for the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in most of the rural and urban local bodies. As per the latest updates, LDF leads in 514 grama panchayats, United Democratic Front (UDF) 377, and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 22.
Cabinet Decisions:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) at an estimated cost of Rs 6,700 crore. This is a major step towards economic development of North Eastern Region through strengthening of intra - state transmission and distribution systems.
CCEA also approved assistance of Rs 3,500 crore for sugarcane farmers. This assistance would be directly credited into farmers' accounts.
Further, the Union Cabinet has approved a proposal of the Department of Telecommunications to conduct spectrum auction through which spectrum will be assigned to the successful bidders for providing commercial mobile services. The auction will be for spectrum in 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz frequency bands. Spectrum will be offered for assignment for validity period of 20 years. A total of 2251.25 MHz is being offered with total valuation of Rs. 3,92,332.70 crore (at reserve price).
Sebi Ruling:
The Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) on 16 December 2020 approved doing away with minimum promoters' contribution (MPS) towards further public offer (FPO). Currently, promoters are mandated to contribute 20% towards FPO. However, companies coming out of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) will now have to achieve 5% MPS at the time of relisting.
Numbers to Watch:
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 5.945% as compared with 5.941% at close in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.5875, compared with its close of 73.6350 during the previous trading session.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2021 settlement rose 21 cents at $50.97 a barrel. The contract rose 47 cents, or 0.93% to settle at $50.76 a barrel in the previous trading session.
Foreign Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Wednesday following an overnight bounce on Wall Street as optimism grew over the prospect of more stimulus.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that there had been progress in talks over a post-Brexit trade agreement with the U.K. and the next few days would be decisive.
The surge in coronavirus cases remains in focus for investors with several major economies, including Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, changing Christmas plans to relax restrictions in order to curb a sharp rise in cases.
In Asia, the Bank of Japan has decided to tap $6 billion in cash from a government account in a rare arrangement to ensure it has enough ammunition to combat any market disruptions caused by a recent resurgence in coronavirus infections. Under the arrangement announced on Wednesday, the central bank will buy dollar cash from the Ministry of Finance any time through to the end of March next year at the prevailing market exchange rate at the time.
Japan's exports declined 4.2% in November as compared with a year ago, according to Ministry of Finance data released Wednesday.
Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine appears set for regulatory authorisation in the United States this week, while rollouts of the country's newly approved vaccine were expanded. Across the Atlantic, Europeans are set to start getting coronavirus vaccines before the new year after the regional drug regulator accelerated its approval process.
US stocks rose sharply on Tuesday as traders grew more optimistic about Congress passing another economic relief package. The Nasdaq closed at a record high.
Optimism over a $1.4 trillion U.S. spending package increased after House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly invited other top congressional leaders to meet late on Tuesday to hammer out a deal to be enacted this week.
Markets will now look to the U.S. Federal Reserve for new projections on whether the economy will suffer a double-dip recession or is on the cusp of a vaccine-inspired boom. The central bank is to release a statement on Wednesday.
Buzzing Indian Segment:
The Nifty Realty index jumped 5.14% to 303.85. The index fell 1.20% in the past two sessions.
Indiabulls Real Estate (up 11.4%), DLF (up 9.67%), D B Realty (up 4.93%), Peninsula Land (up 4.75%), Sobha (up 4.58%), Godrej Properties (up 4.45%), Oberoi Realty (up 4.25%) and Anant Raj (up 2.53%) advanced.
The Nifty PSU Bank index fell 1.63% to 1,803.75. The index has fallen 3.06% in two sessions.
Union Bank of India (down 2.24%), Canara Bank (down 1.84%), Bank of India (down 1.44%), Andhra Bank (down 1.42%), Central Bank (down 1.36%), Bank of Baroda (down 1.04%), UCO Bank (down 0.76%), Punjab & Sind Bank (down 0.7%) and State Bank of India (down 0.42%) declined.
Indian Bank fell 0.38%. The bank declared it has fully provided non-performing account IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) with outstanding dues of Rs 408 crore as fraud on Tuesday. It also said it has reported the same to the RBI as per banking regulatory norms.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) fell 6.54% after the PSU bank launched a qualified institutional placement (QIP) on Tuesday (15 December 2020) to raise funds from institutional investors. The capital raising committee of the bank, at its meeting held on 15 December 2020, authorised the opening of the QIP issue and approved the floor price of Rs 37.35 per equity share, the bank said in a regulatory filing. The floor price is at a 7.89% discount to Tuesday's closing price of Rs 40.55 per share. The capital raising committee of the bank will meet on Friday, 18 December 2020 to determine the QIP issue price.
IDBI Bank fell 0.35% after the bank launched a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of equity shares on Tuesday (15 December 2020). The QIP issue as approved by the special committee is an amount aggregating up to Rs 2,000 crore (base size of Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 1,000 crore under oversubscription option). The floor price for the issue is set at Rs 40.63 per share, which is 4.17% discount to yesterday's closing price of Rs 42.40. The bank may offer a discount of upto 5% on the floor price so calculated for the issue. The committee will meet on 18 December 2020 to approve the issue price.
Stocks to Watch:
HDFC Bank (up 1.46%), TCS (up 1.89%) and Infosys (up 0.98%) were major market movers.
Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) rose 3.11%. HDFC said it plans to issue secured redeemable non-convertible dentures (NCDs) of Rs 10 lakh each, aggregating to Rs 5,000 crore (base size of Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 2,500 crore under green shoe option) with a coupon rate of 4.23% per annum on a private placement basis. The NCDs will have a tenor of 14 months and will be redeemed on 18 February 2022.
The issue will open for bidding on 17 December 2020 and it will close on the same day. The object of the issue is to augment the long-term resources of the corporation. The proceeds will be utilized for financing or refinancing the housing finance requirements of the corporation.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) added 1.89%. The auto maker announced that effective 1 January 2021, the company will increase the price of its range of passenger and commercial vehicles, across models. This has been necessitated due to the increase in commodity prices and various other input costs.
H.G. Infra Engineering jumped 5.32%. The company was declared as lowest bidder by IRCON International for a contract with bid price of Rs 784.99 crore. The scope of the order includes civil works like Earthwork for railway formation, blanketing work, minor bridges, major bridges, robs, rubs, fobs, track linking works (including supply of ballast but excluding supply of rails and sleepers), station building and other service buildings, staff quarters, platform work.
The project also includes general electrical works between Gevra Road to Sendurgarh double line and Urga to Kusmunda single line in the state of Chhattisgarh. HG Infra said the completion period is 30 months including monsoon period.
ABB India rose 3.63%. The company completed a large-scale remote commissioning of winder drives, upgrading and commissioning PM5 installations at ITC's paperboards and specialty papers division mill in south-central India.
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