New Delhi, Jan 8 (Agency) Domestic indices closed at a record high level with strong gains on Friday. The Nifty closed above the crucial 14,300 mark. Barring the Nifty Metal and Nifty PSU Bank index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE were closed in the green. Global shares were upbeat amid hopes for an economic recovery later in the year. Traders bet that a new Democratic-controlled U.S. government would lead to heavy spending and borrowing to support the country’s economic recovery. US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to move quickly to gain passage of $2,000 stimulus checks, along with expanded unemployment benefits, aid to state and local governments and additional relief for small businesses.
As per provisional closing data, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 689.19 points or 1.43% at 48,782.92. The Nifty 50 index rallied 209.9 points or 1.48% at 14,347.55. The Sensex hit a record high of 48,854.34 while the Nifty scaled a fresh all time high of 14,367.30 in late trade today. Buying was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.72%. Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,773 shares rose and 1,341 shares fell. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 8,80,51,477 with 18,98,655 deaths. India reported 2,25,449 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,50,570 deaths while 1,00,37,398 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Nearly a week after the government suspended the flights to and from the United Kingdom amid concerns over the new coronavirus strain, the two countries resumed normal flight operation from Friday.
According to reports, the first flight carrying 256 passengers arrived in the national capital from London today. The resumption of the normal flight operations comes nearly a week after the government suspended services between India and UK on December 23 over the new and more contagious strain of the virus.
Economy:
The central government on Thursday projected that the country’s economy will contract by 7.7% in the current fiscal year 2020-21, as per the first advance estimates of gross domestic product released by the National Statistical Office. The agriculture sector estimate for FY 2021 stood at 3.4%. Also, mining estimate stood at -12.4% for FY21 against 3.1%(YoY) and nominal GDP estimate stood at -4.2%.
Results Today:
IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was up 2.87%. TCS will announce its Q3 quarterly results today.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Biocon advanced 2.2% after the pharmaceutical major announced that the board of its subsidiary Biocon Biologics has approved a primary equity investment by Abu Dhabi based ADQ (ADQ), one of the region’s largest holding companies. As per the terms of the proposed agreement, ADQ will invest Rs 555 crore for a 1.80% minority stake in the biosimilar business, valuing Biocon Biologics at a post money valuation of about $4.17 billion.
Post the completion of this transaction, Biocon will hold 89.89% stake in Biocon Biologics on a fully diluted basis. Established in Abu Dhabi in 2018, ADQ is one of the region’s largest holding companies with direct and indirect investments in more than 90 companies locally and internationally.
ONGC gained 3.12% after the state-run corporation announced that it has approved the offer and issuance of up to 15,000 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of face value of Rs 10 lakh at par aggregating to a total issue size of up to Rs 1,500 crore.
Strides Pharma Science fell 2.86%. The drug company said that Aditya Puri has joined the Strides Group as an advisor and also as a director of its associate company, Stelis Biopharma. Stelis Biopharma is a vertically integrated biopharmaceutical company. The company offers end-to-end state-of-the-art CDMO services across all phases of pre-clinical and clinical development and commercial supply of biologics.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) advanced 3.66% after the company announced price increase for its personal & commercial range of vehicles from 8 January 2021. The prices of its range of personal and commercial vehicles will increase by around 1.9%, resulting in an increase of Rs 4,500-Rs 40,000, depending on the model and variant.
NALCO fell 0.52%. The Ministry of Coal announced Rs 30,000 crore expansion plan for the company. Out of this proposed investment, the company will spend over Rs 7,000 crore on the fifth stream refinery, Pottangi bauxite mines, bauxite transportation system from south block & Utkal D & E coal mines. Remaining Rs 22,000 crore will be spent on smelter and captive power plant (CPP) expansions, which also include expansion of the company’s smelter plant at Angul district in Odisha with construction of a 1400 MW feeder CPP.
Himatsingka Seide jumped 5.87% after the company entered into a new licensing agreement with Disney to expand its global brand portfolio in the home textile space. The license will give Himatsingka the rights to design, develop, manufacture and distribute a broad range of home textile products inspired by Disney’s vast archives and characters from all its franchises including Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Lucas.
Bharat Rasayan spurted 8% after the company said that its board will consider share buyback on Tuesday, 12 January 2021.
Global Markets:
The Dow Jones Futures 30 were trading 90 points higher, indicating a flat to positive start in US markets today. Shares in Europe traded higher on Friday as global investors anticipate that a Democratic-controlled U.S. government will lead to greater fiscal support. Asian markets closed higher on Friday. Shares of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor soared following reports of a deal between the firm and Cupertino-based tech giant Apple on developing electric vehicles and batteries.
The US stocks rose to all-time highs on Thursday as the U.S. Congress confirmed the election of Joe Biden as president early Thursday, a day after supporters of Donald Trump invaded the U.S. Capitol. Thursday marked the Nasdaq’s first-ever close above 13,000. It was also the first time the Dow and S&P 500 ended a session above 31,000 and 3,800, respectively. Traders continued to focus on the possibility for additional fiscal aid after the Democratic party secured a slim majority in the Senate, giving it control of both congressional chambers. Sentiment on Wall Street also got a boost after the Institute for Supply Management said its index for nonmanufacturing activity in the U.S. rose to 57.2 in December from 55.9 in November.