A decent recovery in the final hour of the trade helped Indian
equity benchmarks extend their winning streak to the sixth straight day, led by
gains in Basic Materials, Auto, Realty and Metal stocks. The benchmark indices
made positive start, but quickly pared the gains and spent rest of the session
fluctuating between gains and losses, as traders remained anxious with reports
that India witnessed a slight rise in fresh Covid cases with 20,529 cases. India's
caseload now stands at 10,245,326. India had reported six cases of new
coronavirus variant. But the government said the existing vaccines for Covid-19
will protect against the new variants as there is no evidence to prove
otherwise. Sentiments remained in lackluster mood with the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) in its Report stated that the profitability of non-banking finance
companies (NBFCs) may be dampened going ahead due to the loan impairment and
lower credit demand. But, it said many NBFCs have made additional provisioning
as per expected credit loss (ECL) norm; and bolstered their capital position by
ploughing back dividends. However, late buying and positive trends in the
European stocks helped the indices rebound and end at record closing high levels.
Some respite also came with Former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao Rao's
statement that though Covid -19 and the subsequent lockdown left a trail of
economic devastation on most countries, India can potentially build upon three
positive aspects- push in the rural economy, stronger federalism and a huge
consumption base. Adding to the optimism, government approved the 15th tranche
of electoral bonds which will be open for sale between January 1 and January
10. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made
to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political
funding. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 133.14 points or 0.28% to 47,746.22,
while the CNX Nifty was up by 49.35 points or 0.35% to 13,981.95.
The US markets ended higher on Wednesday as traders made another
attempt at window dressing going into the end of the year after profit taking
set in following an early advance on Tuesday. Reports that U.K. regulators have
approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca (AZN) and the
University of Oxford for emergency use also generated some positive sentiment.
However, the upcoming New Year's Day holiday on Friday kept overall trading
activity relatively subdued. Traders also kept an eye on developments in
Washington, as lawmakers haggle over increasing stimulus checks to $2,000 from
$600. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., blocked Democratic
efforts to fast-track a House approved measure to increase the size of the
checks. McConnell has instead proposed a bill that would tie the bigger
stimulus checks to the repeal of a provision that protects social media
platforms and the creation of an election fraud commission. On the economic
data front, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a
continued decrease in US pending home sales in the month of November. NAR said
its pending home sales index slid 2.6 percent to 125.7 in November after
falling by 0.9 percent to 129.1 in October. Street had expected pending home
sales to come in unchanged.
Crude oil
futures ended higher on Wednesday lifted by data showing a larger than expected
decline US crude inventories in the week ended December 25. A weaker dollar
also contributed to oil's uptick. Data released by the Energy Information
Administration showed crude inventories in the US fell by 6.1 million barrels
last week, significantly more than an expected drop of about 3.8 million
barrels. A report released by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday said
US crude inventories dropped by 4.79 million barrels last week to 492.9 million
barrels, much bigger than an expected drop of about 3.1 million barrels. Crude
oil futures for February rose $0.40 or 0.8 percent to settle at $48.40 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. February Brent crude gained $0.27 or 0.52
percent to settle at $51.50 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee
ended significantly higher against dollar on Wednesday. Traders took solace
with former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao Rao's statement that though Covid -19
and the subsequent lockdown left a trail of economic devastation on most
countries, India can potentially build upon three positive aspects- push in the
rural economy, stronger federalism and a huge consumption base. A weaker greenback
in the overseas markets also supported the rupee. On the global front, dollar
sunk to its lowest in more than two years in Asian trading on Wednesday and
riskier currencies surged, as investors looked past the latest delay in US
fiscal stimulus and bet that global market risk appetite would increase in
2021. Finally, the rupee ended at 73.31, 11 paise stronger from its previous
close of 73.42 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per
Wednesday's data were net buyer in equity segment, while net seller in debt
segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5460.31 crore against
gross selling of Rs 3049.05 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross
purchase was of Rs 522.64 crore with gross sales of Rs 540.22 crore. Besides,
in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 22.98 crore against gross
selling of Rs 52.41 crore.
US markets ended
higher on Wednesday as $600 stimulus checks were set to hit the bank accounts
of millions of Americans later this week. Asian markets are trading mostly
higher in early deals on Thursday. Indian benchmark equity indices ended at
record levels on Wednesday led by gains in metal and auto stocks. Today, the
markets are likely to make pessimistic start of the final day of 2020, as
traders will remain concern on report that total liabilities of the government
increased to Rs 107.04 lakh crore at end-September 2020 from Rs 101.3 lakh
crore at end-June 2020. This represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5.6
per cent in Q2 FY21. Public debt accounted for 91.1 per cent of total
outstanding liabilities at end-September 2020. The weighted average yield on
primary issuances of dated securities showed further moderation to 5.80 per
cent in Q2 of FY21 from 5.85 per cent in Q1 FY21. Meanwhile, India's current
account surplus moderated to $15.5 billion (2.4 per cent of Gross Domestic
Product) in quarter ended September 2020 (Q2FY21) from $19.2 billion (3.8 per
cent of GDP) in (Q1FY21). The current account balance was in deficit to the
tune of $7.6 billion in Q2 of 2019-20 (1.1 per cent of GDP). Besides, FIEO said
that the country's exports may reach USD 290 billion by the end of this fiscal
as the outbound shipments were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic during the
first half of the year. However, some support will come as the commerce
ministry said an import monitoring system is being developed for several
sectors, including aluminium, copper, footwear, furniture, sports goods, and
gym equipment. The system would help gather advanced information on imports of
these products and make it available to the stakeholders, including government
and domestic industries. The system is already in place for steel and
coal. Traders may take note of report
that President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that next year Russia and India
would continue to work towards stepping up constructive bilateral cooperation
as well as coordinating efforts to address topical issues on the regional and
global agendas.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
13,981.95
|
13,898.93
|
14,030.98
|
BSE Sensex
|
47,746.22
|
47,467.10
|
47,916.59
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support
(Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata Motors
|
385.76
|
184.85
|
181.70
|
186.70
|
State Bank of India
|
309.72
|
275.50
|
272.43
|
278.63
|
NTPC
|
302.81
|
99.05
|
98.28
|
99.73
|
UPL
|
217.54
|
465.80
|
460.57
|
471.72
|
ICICI Bank
|
213.65
|
527.60
|
523.77
|
532.22
|
Reliance Industries has completed the acquisition of equity shares of IMG Reliance (IMG-R) from IMG Singapore.
Larsen & Toubro has opened Planet L&T, a digitally-enabled Corporate Experience Centre that provides an immersive-experience through 12 high-tech zones.
State Bank of India is rolling out a new cheque payment system from next year.
Bajaj Finserv's subsidiary company -- Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has in association with Jammu & Kashmir Government launched the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.