Market Ahead, December 16: Top factors that could guide markets today

The US markets ended overnight trade with strong gains as optimism over a $1.4 trillion US spending package increased after House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited other top congressional leaders to meet late on Tuesday to hammer out a deal.

Meanwhile, progress on vaccine rollouts continued after Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine appeared set for regulatory authorization this week.

Overall, the Dow Jones rose 1.13 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.3 per cent and the Nasdaq climbed 1.25 per cent, exceeding its previous record close.

Markets will now look to the US Federal Reserve for new projections. The central bank is to release a statement later today.

Following the strong Wall Street close, Asian stocks also gained on Wednesday, with Australian ASX 200 rising 1.25 per cent and Japan's Nikkei up 0.3 per cent in early trading on Wednesday.

In commodities, Brent crude oil gained 30 cents to $50.59 a barrel.

On the back of such strong gains, the SGX Nifty was ruling 60 points up at 7:30 AM, indicating a solid start and yet another fresh all-time high for the Indian benchmark indices today.

Investors will track the meeting of Sebi which is set to discuss some crucial issues pertaining to capital and commodity markets today. According to media reports, the key issues on the agenda include relaxation in minimum promoter contribution in Follow on Public Offer and new shareholding norms for Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process companies.

Besides, a number of stock-specific developments are likely to trigger some key movements in stocks.

Infra-related stocks might trade actively today after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Union Budget for FY22 would have emphasis on sustaining high public expenditure on infrastructure to revive the economy.

Besides, sugar stocks may be in focus as the Union Cabinet may consider a proposal to provide export subsidy worth Rs 3,600 crore to sugar mills for the marketing year 2020-21 in today's meeting.

Embassy Office Parks REIT yesterday approved raising anywhere between $500 million to $600 million through a QIP to support expansion plans.

Mahindra & Mahindra has said it will hike prices of its entire range of passenger and commercial vehicles from next month in order to partially offset the impact of rise in input costs.

Apart from these, IDBI Bank yesterday opened its Qualified Institutional Placement issue worth up to Rs 2,000 crore while Punjab National Bank also launched its QIP worth Rs 7,000 crore at a floor price of Rs 37.35 per share.

And, in the primary market, eliciting robust response from investors, the initial share sale of Mrs Bectors Food Specialities got oversubscribed within a few hours of opening for subscription on Tuesday and ended the day with 3.72 times subscription.