Snapping two day losing streak,
Indian equity benchmarks ended the Monday's trade with a gain of around a
percent, setline above their crucial 56,300 (Sensex) and 16,750 (Nifty) levels,
as traders went for bargain hunting after a worldwide slump for financial
markets spurred by worries about how badly the omicron variant, inflation and
other forces will hit the world economy. Markets started the day on an
optimistic note as sentiments remained up-beat as a Commerce Ministry official
said Indian exports showed a turnaround after December last year and are still
going strong. Traders also took some support as Prime Minister Narendra Modi
assured India Inc that the government would focus on reducing the compliance
burden while exhorting the top companies to make full use of the
production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Markets extended gains as additional
optimism came with report that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide
$350 million loan to improve access to urban services in India by accelerating
policy actions and reforms to enhance service delivery and promote
performance-based central fiscal transfers to urban local bodies (ULBs).
However, market participants booked half of their early gains in last leg of
trade as traders remained watchful amid report that India has recorded 200
cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant across 12 states, mostly in the
western state of Maharashtra and the nation's capital New Delhi. Some cautiousness
came with report that Formal job creation in the country slowed down in October
with 1.27 million new jobs added under the Employees' Provident Fund
Organisation. This is the lowest after July when 1.23 million subscribers were
added. Net new additions under EPFO stood at 1.36 million in August and 1.54
million in September. Despite profit booking in later part of the day, local
bourses managed to end with a decent gains as traders continued looking for
beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained
497.00 points or 0.89% to 56,319.01 and the CNX Nifty was up by 156.65 points
or 0.94% to 16,770.85.
The US markets settled sharply
higher on Tuesday as traders picked up stocks at somewhat reduced levels on the
heels of recent weakness. The rebound on markets also came after a report from
Moderna (MRNA) about the effectiveness of a booster dose of its Covid-19
vaccine against the Omicron variant. Moderna announced that a booster dose of
its Covid-19 vaccine increased antibody levels against Omicron. The currently
authorized 50 microgram booster dose increased neutralizing antibody levels
against Omicron approximately 37-fold compared to pre-boost levels. On the
sectoral front, Airline stocks turned in some of the market's best performances
on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 5.3 percent.
Substantial strength was also visible among energy stocks, which benefited from
a significant rebound by the price of crude oil. Crude for February delivery
spiked $2.51 to $71.12 a barrel after plunging $2.11 to $68.61 a barrel on
Monday. Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil
Service Index surged up by 5.2 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index shot up by
3.5 percent. Micro helped lead a rally by semiconductor stocks, resulting in a
3.4 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Crude oil futures ended higher
with gains of over three and half percent on Tuesday as prices rebounded from
losses in the previous session. An announcement from Moderna Inc. that a
booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine appeared to be protective against the
Omicron variant in laboratory testing contributed to the uptick in oil prices.
However, omicron accounted for 73% of new infections in the US last week, a
nearly six-fold increase in only seven days. Meanwhile, WHO director-general
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is now consistent evidence that Omicron
is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant. Benchmark crude oil
futures for January delivery rose $2.51 or 3.7 percent to settle at $71.12 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery
surged $2.64 or 3.68 percent to settle at $74.16 a barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended higher against
dollar on Tuesday as banks persistently sold the greenback on behalf of
corporate entities and possibly for overseas investors looking to participate
in Indian firms' fund-raising plans. Dollar-selling interventions by the
Reserve Bank of India in the wake of recent volatility in the rupee also
boosted the traders' sentiments. Additional support came in with Joint
Secretary in the Department of Commerce Amitabh Kumar's statement that Indian
exports showed a turnaround after December last year and are still going strong,
while global trade took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthy gains in
Indian equity markets also supported rupee. On the global front, a rebound in
global risk appetite pushed the British pound slightly higher versus the dollar
on Tuesday, after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cautioned that further
lockdown measures may be needed. Finally, the rupee ended 75.59 (Provisional),
stronger by 30 paise from its previous close of 75.90 on Monday.
The FIIs as per Tuesday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 7064.05 crore against gross selling of Rs 10127.72 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 274.55 crore against
gross selling of Rs 2734.17 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 3.90 crore against gross selling of Rs 31.26 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Tuesday following strong earnings by Nike and Micron. Asian markets are trading
in green on Wednesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, despite the
increasing number of Omicron cases around the globe. Indian markets snapped a
two-day losing streak on Tuesday tracking a rebound in other Asian markets.
Gains across most sectors, led by IT, metal, healthcare and consumer stocks,
pushed the headline indices higher. Today, the start of session is likely to be
positive mirroring firm global cues. Some support will come as the Finance
Ministry in a report said the government has initiated various measures to
provide relief and financial support to various sectors of the Covid-19 hit
economy, at the same time, fiscal consolidation is also under focus. Traders
may take note of newly-elected president of Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (Ficci) Sanjiv Mehta's statement that high inflation has
impacted consumption and market volumes have gone down, especially in the rural
economy, but it is likely to start easing from mid-2022 as it is largely due to
supply side constraints or speculation. However, there may be some concern as
foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers of debt worth $587.01
million so far in December, on weak sentiments due to rising cases of the
Omicron variant of Covid-19, ahead of the Federal Reserve's tapering and rate
hikes. There may be some cautiousness with report showing that India's
production of crude oil, which is refined to produce petrol and diesel,
continued to decline in November, with lower output from state-owned firms
leading to an over 2 per cent drop. Crude oil production in November was 2.43
million tonnes, down from 2.48 million tonnes a year back and 2.5 million
tonnes in October 2021. Meanwhile, the GST Council has not recommended bringing
petroleum products under the reformed taxation regime even as certain
representations have been made to the government to include petrol and diesel
in GST. IT and auto stocks will be in limelight as the Government notified the
semiconductor policy which was cleared by the Cabinet last week. According to
the gazette notification, the government will provide up to 50% of Project cost
for two semiconductor and two display fabs in the country. Gem, jewellery
industry stocks will be in focus as the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion
Council (GJEPC) said India's overall gem and jewellery exports in November
declined by 4.21 per cent to Rs 17,784.92 crore (USD 2,384 million) compared to
the same month last year due to break in manufacturing activity during Diwali.
There will be some reaction in power stocks with a private report that India's
rooftop solar capacity addition tripled to 1.3 GW during January-September 2021
as compared to the same period a year ago. Metro Brands shares will start
trading on the stock exchanges today.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE
(Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
16,770.85
|
16,660.60
|
16,908.75
|
BSE Sensex
|
56,319.01
|
55,943.90
|
56,797.42
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
ITC
|
193.95
|
212.50
|
210.55
|
214.95
|
Tata
Motors
|
188.38
|
453.50
|
448.60
|
459.65
|
State
Bank of India
|
166.17
|
447.30
|
441.79
|
455.54
|
ICICI
Bank
|
145.63
|
721.00
|
715.11
|
727.91
|
Wipro
|
136.81
|
691.15
|
675.74
|
701.84
|
L&T's wholly owned subsidiary -- Larsen & Toubro International FZE has entered into a SPA on December 20, 2021 to acquire, stake in Intelliflux Controls Inc., a Delaware Corporation.
IOC has received approval for investment proposal of new crude oil pipeline system with nameplate capacity of 17.5 MMTPA from Mundra to Panipat along with augmentation of crude oil tank farm at Mundra, at an estimated cost of Rs 9,028 crore.
SBI has acquired a minority stake in JSW Cement with an investment of Rs 100 crore via compulsorily convertible preference shares.
Bharti Airtel has lost 4,89,709 customers in October 2021.