Stock Market Today: Nifty, Sensex Close At Record Highs After Four-Day Rally

The yield on the 10-year bond closed 3 bps higher at 7.21% on Wednesday.

Source: Bloomberg

• The local currency weakened 16 paise to close at 83.35 against the U.S dollar on Wednesday.

• It closed at 83.19 on Tuesday.

Source: Bloomberg

Benchmark indices in India continued to rally in the fourth consecutive session and hit their highest ever closing levels due to gains in the shares of financial services and IT stocks.

The Nifty 50 rose 213.40 points or 1% to record the highest closing of 21,654.75 points and the Sensex ended at 72,038.43 for the first time up 0.98% or 701.63 points. Intraday, the Nifty renewed its lifetime high to 21.675.75 points and the Sensex hit 72,119.85, its all-time high level.

Pankaj Pandey, head of Research at ICICI direct, said, "Global and domestic cues are looking quite good for the market...Our sense is that the positive momentum is going to sustain in the market probably to levels like 22,200...there will be a correction in between, but in general, we expect the market to keep doing well for the next month..with a target of 22,200..overall, the good run is expected to sustain. "

Chandan Taparia, head of technical & derivatives research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd said, "Market is making the base to start the next leg of the rally. The market has strong positive momentum...and utilise small declines as buying opportunity."

Globally, the sentiment was uplifted by the expectations of interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve in March. European markets opened higher on Wednesday and Asian markets closed higher. In Japan, indices rose after Bank of Japan board members discussed the potential timing of ending the negative rate policy during their meeting last week, with several members indicating they see no rush to make the move.

Shares of HDFC Bank Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., and ICICI Bank Ltd., contributed the most to the gains.

Meanwhile those of NTPC Ltd., Adani Enterprises Ltd., Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd., Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., and Cipla Ltd. capped the upside.

Most sectoral indices rose with Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty Bank leading. Nifty PSE, Nifty Oil & Gas, and Nifty Energy fell.

The broader markets underperformed as the BSE MidCap rose 0.41%, while the BSE SmallCap was 0.20% higher. Fifteen out of the 20 sectors compiled by the BSE advanced, while five declined. S&P BSE Metal and S&P BSE Auto rose the most.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of buyers. Around 1,992 stocks rose, 1,812 stocks declined, and 110 remained unchanged.

• Extends gains for fourth consecutive session

• Surges over 1000 points in the last 12 sessions

• Gains 3.23% since Dec 8, 2023

• NTPC is the sole laggard among stocks in Sensex

UltraTech Cement Ltd.'s market capitalisation crossed the Rs 3 lakh crore mark as its shares hit an all-time high on Wednesday.

The company's market value hit at Rs 3.01 lakh crore, while its scrip rose as much as 4.29% to a record of Rs 10,448.5 apiece. It later pared gains to trade 4.1% higher at Rs 10.430.9 per share as of 2:50 p.m.

• 15 lakh shares changed hands in a large trade

• 0.01% equity changed hands at Rs 91.2 apiece

• Buyers and sellers not known immediately

Source: Bloomberg

Note: Scheme of amalgamation refers to proposed merger of IDFC FHCL into IDFC & IDFC into IDFC First Bank

Source: Exchange Filing

• Will install 48 units of 2.1 MW wind turbines

• Project to be installed in Maharashtra with total installed capacity of 100.8 MW

• Electricity generated from the project to be supplied to commercial and industrial customers

Source: Exchange Filing

• Gets GST demand worth Rs 269.8 crore including interest and penalty

• Gets GST demand from Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, Maharashtra

• Authority has demanded GST along with applicable interest and penalty for FY2018

Source: Exchange Filing

The benchmark NSE Nifty 50 extended gains through midday and hit a new lifetime high on Wednesday, with banking stocks contributing the most to the gains. Sensex also extended gains and was trading 100 points away from its lifetime high.

As of 12:08 p.m., Nifty was 158.85 points, or 0.74% higher at 21,600.20, while Sensex was up 523.05 points, or 0.73% at 71,859.85.

"Overall, the market is leaning towards positive, and it looks like the year will end on a positive note," said Shrey Jain, founder and chief executive officer of SAS Online.

"There's expected to be strong resistance when the index reaches 21,500...If it manages to break through this level decisively, it could lead to a significant increase in the index," he said.

Bharti Airtel Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., and Reliance Industries Ltd. were positively contributing to changes in the Nifty.

While, Asian Paints Ltd., Britannia Industries Ltd., NTPC Ltd., ITC Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. were weighing the index.

All sectoral indices gained except Nifty PSE. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal, Nifty Auto, and Nifty Commodities gained over 1%.

The broader markets also rose, with BSE MidCap gaining 0.71% and BSE SmallCap advancing 0.45%.

Nineteen of the 20 sectors compiled by BSE advanced. S&P BSE Services declined.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. As many as 2,238 stocks advanced, 1,398 declined and 153 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Shares of HDFC Bank Ltd., IndusInd Bank Ltd., and State Bank Of India Ltd. contributed the most to the gains in the index.

• 15.1 lakh shares changed hands in a large trade

• 0.02% equity changed hands at Rs 95.80 apiece

• Buyers and sellers not known immediately

Source: Bloomberg

• Adani Total Gas signs MoU to aid Flipkart’s efforts to decarbonise supply chain

• Arm to deploy EV charging infrastructure at Flipkart’s supply chains across India

Source: Exchange Filing

Order for civil and various types of infra works for plant and township at Burnpur

Source: Exchange Filing

• Kansai Nerolac at 10.10 times its 30 day average

• Maithan Alloys at 9.16 times its 30 day average

• 3M India at 4.49 times its 30 day average

• Sharda Cropchem at 4.61 times its 30 day average

• Upgrades UltraTech Cement to a 'Buy' rating at Rs 11500 target

• Upgrades Dalmia Bharat to a 'Buy' rating at Rs 2900 target

• Upgrades Ramco Cements to a 'Buy' rating at Rs 1250 target

• Maintains 'Buy' on Shree Cement with revised target of Rs 33400

• Upgrades view on Indian cement industry on potential stronger sales volume growth

• Expects 5% cement demand CAGR over FY24-26

• Expect 2-3% YoY cement price hikes in FY25 as industry looks to expand margins

• Decline in average petcoke and thermal coal prices YTDFY24 to aid Ebitda expansion

• Even if fuel costs escalate from current level, full impact to only come in Q2FY25

Shares of Coromandel International Ltd. fell nearly 4% after PTI reported that Ammonia gas leaked from a fertiliser manufacturing unit at Ennore in north Chennai and several people have been hospitalised.

The company, in a statement said that it noticed abnormality on Tuesday in the ammonia unloading subsea pipeline near shoreside, outside the plant premises. "Our Standard Operating Procedure activated immediately, and we have isolated ammonia system facility and brought the situation to normalcy in the shortest time," the company said.

To substitute SPV by executing the project with Ayana Renewable Power Four

Seven Renewable Power and Ayana Renewable Power Four are subsidiaries of Ayana Renewable Power

Exchange Filing

• 10.8 lakh shares or 0.01% equity changed hands in a large trade

• Buyers and sellers not known immediately

Source: Bloomberg

Current CIO Ronti Kar to head Innovation Hub and Fintech Partnership

Source: Exchange Filing

Shares of Cupid Ltd were locked in an upper circuit on Wednesday after Columbia Petrol Chem Pvt. Ltd and Aditya Halwasiya acquired stake in the company.

The scrip rose as much as 5% to 1,016.25 apiece, the highest level since Dec. 11, 2023. This compares to a 0.57 advance in the NSE Nifty 50 Index as of 10:08 a.m.

It has risen 269.21% on a year-to-date basis. Total traded volume so far in the day stood at 0.5 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 74.

• Lists at Rs 1,000 on NSE vs issue price of Rs 850

• Lists at Rs 1001.25 on BSE vs issue price of Rs 850

• Lists at a premium of 17.79% on BSE

Source: Exchanges

• Lists at Rs 282.35 on NSE vs issue price of Rs 280

• Lists at Rs 282 on BSE vs issue price of Rs 280

• Lists at a premium of 0.71% on BSE

Source: Exchanges

• Lists at Rs 100 on NSE vs issue price of Rs 100

• Lists at Rs 100 on BSE vs issue price of Rs 100

Source: Exchanges

Shares of SJVN Ltd. jumped over 4% today after the company bagged a 100 MW solar power project from Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam. Unit SJVN Green Energy will develop a project at a tentative cost of Rs 550 crore

The company has received a letter of award from the Uttarakhand Urban Development Department for projects in two places with the combined costing at Rs 899 crore.

The scrip rose as much as 11.39% to 242 apiece, to reach a new life high. This is the highest level since Dec. 15, 2023. It pared gains to trade 6.19% higher at Rs 230.70 apiece, as of 9:54 a.m. This compares to a 0.57 advance in the NSE Nifty 50 Index.

Total traded volume so far in the day stood at 17 times its 30-day average.

Shares of Kansai Nerolac jumped nearly 10% today to hit its 52-week high as the company said it will sell a land parcel in Mumbai's Lower Parel along with a building there for Rs 726 crore to Aethon Developers.

Benchmark indices continued their rally in the fourth consecutive session today and opened higher as shares of IT companies and banks led the gains.

At pre-open, the S&P BSE Sensex Index was up 142.87 points, or 0.20%, at 71,479.67, while the NSE Nifty 50 was 56.30 points or 0.26% higher at 21,497.65.

"The 21000 would be the crucial support zone as of now and as mentioned earlier, would need a decisive breach above the important resistance zone of 21550 levels to carry on with the momentum and confirm a breakout for further rise in the coming days," said Prabhudas Lilladher in a report. "The support for the day is seen at 21300 zone while the resistance is seen at 21600 level."

"BankNifty has been in consolidation for quite some time near 47800 zone witnessing a pullback from 47400 levels and would need a decisive breach above 48200 zone to confirm a breakout for further fresh upward move," the report added.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Infosys Ltd., UltraTech Cement Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., and Reliance Industries Ltd., contributed the most to the gains.

Meanwhile, those of Asian Paints Ltd., Britannia Industries Ltd., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., NTPC Ltd., and Maruti Suzuki Ltd., capped the upside.

All sectoral indices gained with Nifty Energy and Nifty IT gaining the most while Nifty FMCG and Nifty Bank gained the least.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks; the S&P BSE MidCap Index was up 0.63%, whereas S&P BSE SmallCap Index was 0.66% higher.

All 20 sectors compiled by BSE advanced.. S&P BSE Commodities rose the most.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of the buyers. About 2,319 stocks rose, 647 declined, while 99 remained unchanged on the BSE.

At pre-open, the S&P BSE Sensex Index was up 142.87 points, or 0.20%, at 71,479.67, while the NSE Nifty 50 was 56.30 points or 0.26% higher at 21,497.65.

The yield on the 10-year bond opened flat at 7.18% on Wednesday.

Source: Bloomberg

• The local currency weakened 2 paise to open at 83.21 against the U.S dollar on Wednesday.

• It closed at 83.19 on Tuesday.

Source: Bloomberg

• See C-heavy ethanol prices rising by 12-15% to Rs 55-56/litre this season

• Sugar production to decline; likely to remain low in next season as well

• Pause in ethanol policy temporary on lower expected production for next 2 years

• Don't see sugar prices going beyond Rs40/kg, inhibiting earnings growth in FY25

• Cut operating profit estimates for covered companies by 2-8%

• Positive outlook remains for UP-based sugar firms

• Balrampur Chini: Buy with a target price of Rs 485

• Triveni Engineering & Industries: Buy with a target price of Rs 385

• Dalmia Bharat Sugar & Industries: Buy with a target price of Rs 495

• Dwarikesh Sugar Industries: Downgrade to neutral with a target price of Rs 94

• As per media report RBI granted 1 year extension to Bajaj finance and RBL bank's co branded credit card until Dec 2024

• RBI letter pointed to serious deficiencies in company's adherence to RBI guidelines

• Due to no commentary from company, lack sufficient information to assess impact on BAF

• BAF may have sufficient time to correct deficiencies

• Expects operations should continue as usual; unlikely to be material impact on earnings

• BAF's share price decline could be attributed to negative sentiment on regulatory concerns

• Awarded 7 GW renewable energy evacuation transmission network in National Grid evacuation

• Rs 3,000 crore project to evacuate 7GW of renewable energy from Khavda RE Park into National Grid

• To build, own, operate, maintain transmission project for period of 35 years

• To have 20,518 ckt kms of transmission lines and 53,161 MVA of transformation capacity

Source: Exchange Filing

• Signs Share Purchase Agreement with PFC Consulting to acquire 100% stake in Halvad Transmission

• HTL project consists of evacuation of 7 GW of renewable energy from Khavda RE Park

• Project includes setting up 765 kV Halvad switching station

• Switching station to include 765 kV bus reactors and Line-In Line-Out of the Lakadia – Ahmedabad 765 kV D/C line

Source: Exchange Filing

• JV to implement Smart Metering projects in India, globally

• Arm to hold 49% stake in JV, Esyasoft to hold remaining 51% stake

Source: Exchange Filing

• TotalEnergies acquires 50% stake in ARE9L for $300 mn

• Co, TotalEnergies own a 50:50 stake in ARE9L

• TotalEnergies infuses of Rs 4,013 crore into AGE23L by subscribing to compulsorily convertible debentures

  Source: Exchange Filing

  ARE9L stands for Adani Renewable Energy Nine

  AGE23L stands for Adani Green Energy Twenty

• U.S. Dollar Index at 101.54

• U.S. 10-year bond yield at 3.88%

• Brent crude down 0.20% at $80.91 per barrel

• Nymex crude down 0.34% at $75.31 per barrel 

• GIFT Nifty was 0.09% up at 21,550 as of 07:47 a.m.

• Bitcoin was up 0.12% at 42,391.88

• Price band revised from 20% to 10%: Gallantt Ispat.

• Ex/record Interim Dividend: Vedanta.

• Moved into a short-term ASM framework: Gallantt Ispat, Sangam (India).

• Moved Out of short-term ASM framework: Marksans Pharma.

• Nifty December futures up by 0.45% to 21,499.15 at a premium of 57.8 points.

• Nifty December futures open interest down by 6.1%.

• Nifty Bank December futures up by 0.66% to 47,877.25 at a premium of 152.4 points.

• Nifty Bank December futures open interest up by 11.11%.

• Nifty Options Dec 28 Expiry: Maximum Call open interest at 22,000 and Maximum Put open interest at 21,300.

• Bank Nifty Options Dec 28 Expiry: Maximum Call Open Interest at 50,000 and Maximum Put open interest at 47,500.

• Securities in the ban period: Balrampur Chini Mills, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, National Aluminum, RBL Bank.

• Paisalo Digital: Promoter group Equilibrated Venture Cflow bought 4.23 lakh shares on Dec. 26.

• V.I.P. Industries: Promoter Kiddy Plast bought 43,822 shares on Dec. 22. Promoter group DGP Enterprises bought 70,000 shares on Dec. 22. Promoter Dilip G. Piramal bought 57,000 shares on Dec. 22.

• Yasho Industries: Promoter Vinod Harilal Jhaveri bought 40,000 shares on Dec. 22.

• Dr. Lal PathLabs: Promoter group Shanita Deepak Jain sold 20,100 shares on Dec. 21.

• Mangalore Chemical and Fertilizers: Promoter Zuari Agro Chemicals revoked a pledge for 10.87 lakh shares on Dec. 22.

• Lumax Auto Technologies: Asia Investment Corporation Mauritius sold 28.11 lakh shares (4.12%), while Griffin Growth Fund VCC bought 28.11 lakh shares (4.12%) at Rs 386 apiece.

• Solara Active Pharma Sciences: Spiracca Ventures LLP bought 20.13 lakh shares (5.59%) at Rs 341.36 apiece.

• Hi-Tech Pipes: Shruti Mohta sold 10 lakh shares (0.76%) at Rs 105.18 apiece.

• Indiabulls Housing Finance: Mathew Cyriac bought 24.99 lakh shares (0.52%) at Rs 213.57 apiece.

• Arman Financial Services: Elevation Capital V Limited sold 2.92 lakh shares (3.35%) at Rs 2,526.48 apiece.

• Happy Forgings: The company’s shares will debut on the stock exchanges on Wednesday at an issue price of Rs 850 apiece. The Rs 1,008.59-crore IPO was subscribed 82.04 times on its third and final day. The bids were led by institutional investors (220.48 times), non-institutional investors (62.17 times) and retail investors (15.09 times).

• Credo Brands Marketing: The company’s shares will debut on the stock exchanges on Wednesday at an issue price of Rs 280 apiece. The Rs 549.78 crore IPO was subscribed 51.85 times on its third and final day. The bids were led by institutional investors (104.92 times), non-institutional investors (55.52 times) and retail investors (19.94 times).

• RBZ Jewellers: The company’s shares will debut on the stock exchanges on Wednesday at an issue price of Rs 100 apiece. The Rs 100 crore IPO was subscribed 16.86 times on its third and final day. The bids were led by retail investors (24.74 times), institutional investors (13.43 times), and non-institutional investors (9.27 times).

• Innova Captab: The public issue was subscribed 55.26 times on its third and final day. The bids were led by institutional investors (116.73 times), non-institutional investors (64.95 times), and retail investors (17.15 times).

• Aditya Birla Capital: The company made investments of Rs 850 crore in Aditya Birla Finance via share subscription and of Rs 50 crore in Aditya Birla Capital Digital.

• Piramal Enterprises: The company’s unit, Piramal Consumer Products, had acquired Piramal Tower from the promoter for Rs 875 crore. The company has also invested Rs 289.6 crore in Piramal Consumer Products via rights issues.

• Vishnu Prakash R Punglia: The company received the letter of award for orders worth Rs 899 crore from the Uttarakhand government for development projects.

• Kansai Nerolac Paints: The company will sell a land parcel in Mumbai's Lower Parel along with a building there for Rs 726 crore to Aethon Developers.

• SJVN: The company bagged a 100 MW solar power project from Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam. Unit SJVN Green Energy will develop a project at a tentative cost of Rs 550 crore.

• Cupid: Universal-Halwasiya Group acquired an additional 26% stake for Rs 113 crore via an open offer.

• Karnataka Bank: The company has enabled payment of direct tax (income tax or advance tax) for its customers.

• Life Insurance Corp: The board has approved the proposal to set up a branch office in GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

• Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone: The company will consider fundraising via non-convertible debentures on Jan. 3.

• Power Grid Corporation of India: The company started commercial operations at the 500 MW wind energy zone in Tamil Nadu. It has also acquired Vataman Transmission for Rs 18.2 crore and the Koppal-Gadag transmission SPV in Karnataka for Rs 18.4 crore from Power Finance Corp.

• Zydus Lifesciences: The company’s unit received an income tax demand worth Rs 284.58 crore for AY 2023–24. The company believes the entire demand will be nullified post-rectification.

• Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Zee Learn: Axis Bank has filed an insolvency petition against Zee Learn in the National Company Law Tribunal in Mumbai.

• Elpro International: The company acquired 4.65 lakh shares of ONGC for Rs 9.7 crore.

• Amber Enterprises India: The company’s unit and Nexxbase Marketing-Noise Brand have incorporated a joint venture, 'Stelltek Technologies', with a shareholding ratio of 50:50, respectively, to carry on the business of manufacturing, assembling, and designing wearables and other smart electronics products.

• Seamec: The company signed an MoU with HAL Offshore for the charter hire of the offshore support vessel 'Sea Pearl' for 3 years at a cost of $9.6 million.

• Gabriel India: Puneet Gupta resigned as chief operating officer of a two- and three-wheeler business unit. Anand Dinkar Sontakke has been appointed to take his place.

• India Glycols: The company has successfully added a further capacity of 100 KLPD to the existing grain-based distillery at the Kashipur (Uttarakhand) plant. The revised capacity of the plant is 400 KLPD and it is fully commissioned.

• Bajaj Holdings: The company received GST and a penalty demand worth Rs 1.83 crore from the Commissioner of Central Tax, Pune.

• Pfizer: The company received tax and penalty demands worth Rs 2.44 crore from tax authorities.

The December futures contract of the GIFT Nifty contract traded 0.09% higher at 21,550 as of 07:47 a.m.

Indices in Japan and Australia tracked their US peers and opened higher on hopes of an interest interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in March. South Korea's Kospi, however, fell.

In Australia, the gains were led by miners, reflecting higher iron ore prices. Wall Street kicked off the final week of 2023 with gains in stocks, extending a rally that put the market on the brink of a record, Bloomberg reported.

Brent crude was trading 0.20% lower at $80.91 per barrel. Gold was down 0.07% at $2,066.4 an ounce.

India's benchmark indices ended higher for the third day on Tuesday, despite starting the day flat, as HDFC Bank Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. gained.

The NSE Nifty 50 ended 91.95 points, or 0.43%, higher at 21,441.35, while the S&P BSE Sensex closed 229.84 points, or 0.32%, up at 71,336.80.

Overseas investors remained net sellers of Indian equities for the sixth consecutive session on Tuesday. Foreign portfolio investors offloaded stocks worth Rs 95.20 crore, while domestic institutional investors turned net buyers and mopped up stocks worth Rs 167.04 crore, the NSE data showed.

The Indian rupee weakened 4 paise to close at 83.19 against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday.