Market Highlights: Sensex, Nifty close in the red; realty drags, pharma gains

The rupee ended marginally lower at 83.06 per dollar from Friday's close of 83.00.

Indian benchmark indices ended Monday in the red. At close, the Sensex was down 168.66 points or 0.24% at 71,315.09, and the Nifty was down 38.00 points or 0.18% at 21,418.70.

Top losers on the Nifty included JSW Steel, ICICI Bank, ITC Power Grid Corporation and ONGC. Gainers included Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco Industries and Reliance.

Sebi has given NSE a list of conditions it needs to fulfill before it can apply for an IPO, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing sources.

Aurionpro Transit, a provider of smart ticketing and payment solutions for transit, announced a partnership with Vix Technology, after which its stock hit the 5% upper circuit.

Aurionpro Transit will design and develop innovative in-bus solutions that will streamline transit operations by providing a central on-vehicle hub for various functions, from ticketing to communications, the company said in an exchange filing.

Sun Pharma's market capitalisation crossed ₹3 trillion on Monday, making it the 20th biggest company in India. Shares of India’s largest drugmaker are up 26% so far this year.

Oil prices rose on Monday as attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea raised concerns of oil supply disruptions. Russia's plan to lower exports in December provided additional support. Brent crude futures were up 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $76.72 a barrel at 0910 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose 48 cents, or 0.7%, to $71.91.

At 3 pm the Sensex was down 148.02 points or 0.21% at 71,335.73, and the Nifty was down 30.50 points or 0.14% at 21,426.20.

Fedbank Financial Services, which went public recently, reported 25.1% growth in Q2 net profit at ₹57.76 crore for the September quarter, from ₹46.16 crore in the year-ago period. Total income rose by 35.8% yoy from ₹293.09 crore to ₹397.95 crore.

Shares of SpiceJet are up 17% after news reports suggested that the airline – along with Sharjah-based Sky One company and Safrik Investments – have shown interest in buying the bankrupt Go First.

Muthoot Microfin's IPO has been subscribed 45% so far on its first day. The company has received bids for 1.09 crore of the 2.43 crore shares on offer.

Retail investors have bid for 77% of their allotted quota, non-institutional investors 27%, and employees 77%. Qualified institutional buyers are yet to bid.

Chinese stocks extended their losses on Monday after five consecutive weekly declines. Risk sentiment remained weak after recent data showed a sluggish economic recovery, and policy signals from a top meeting failed to excite investors.

The government is likely to achieve its fiscal deficit target of 5.9% of GDP in FY24, junior finance minister Bhagwat Karad said. India's fiscal deficit in the first seven months of the financial year ending on March 31, 2024 was ₹8.04 trillion ($96.86 billion), or 45% of the estimate for the whole year, according to data released by the government last month.

At 2 pm the Sensex was down 116.97 points or 0.16% at 71,366.78, and the Nifty was down 24.70 points or 0.12% at 21,432.

Inox India's ₹1,459.32 crore IPO has been subscribed 15.54 times so far on the final day of bidding. The company received bids for 24 crore shares against the 1.55 crore on offer. HNIs bid for 32.94 times their allotted quota while retail the retail quota was subscribed 11.51 times and shares reserved for qualified institutional buyers were subscribed 9.56 times.

The board of Sandur Manganese has approved an issue of bonus shares in the ratio of 5:1 the company said in an exchange filing. It will issue five shares to investors for every share they own as of the record date, which is yet to be determined. 

Siemens said in an exchange filing that promoters of the company – Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Germany; Siemens International Holding B.V., Siemens Energy Holding B.V., and Siemens Energy Aktiengesellschaft – have requested the board to consider a demerger of the company's energy business into a separate entity. The stock is currently up around 2%.

Mankind Pharma has invested about £999,900 in Actimed Therapeutics for an additional 1.29% stake, taking its total stake to 10.19%. The stock is currently up more than 1.5%.

At 1 pm the Sensex was down 99.81 points or 0.14% at 71,383.94, and the Nifty was down 22.90 points or 0.11% at 21,433.80.

Its subsidiary Sintex BAPL has confirmed an investment of around ₹807 crore to set up a manufacturing unit in Telangana, according to an exchange filing on Saturday. This will be executed through a wholly owned step-down subsidiary, Sintex Advance Plastics Limited, over three financial years starting from FY25.

The stock is currently down 0.22%.

IRCTC shares are in the green again today, having gained in five of the last six sessions. The stock is up around 16% over the past month and almost 27% this year.

The Nikkei average ended lower on Monday as cautious investors awaited hints from Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda for a possible shift in its ultra-low rates policy. The Nikkei fell 0.64% to close at 32,758.98, while the broader Topix slipped 0.66% to 2,316.86.

The government is unlikely to continue its subsidy for electric two-wheelers, according to a report in The Times of India, meaning the FAME III scheme is unlikely to be rolled out.

The FAME II subsidy applies to two, three, and four-wheelers. It kicked off on 1 April 2019 with a total outlay of ₹10,000 crore over five years, which end on 31 March 2024.

The USFDA has issued five observations to Granules Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Granules India, after an inspection, the company wrote in a notification to the stock exchanges on Saturday.

The stock is up around 1% today.

At 12 pm the Sensex was down 49.06 points or 0.07% at 71,434.69, and the Nifty was down 6.90 points or 0.03% at 21,449.80.

Kellton Tech Solutions announced it recently secured a multi-year project from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The stock is currently up around 13% on the day.

The company said the projects would increase its green-power capacity from 19% to 60%.

"Medium- and long-term investors can expect decent returns. However, rising valuations could mean higher volatility. We advise investors to exercise caution in small cap and illiquid stocks due to liquidity-driven spikes. 

"Large caps, particularly in BFSI, look good for investment with reasonable valuations and potential stability. The IT sector rally is linked to 2024 Fed rate cut expectations, prompting valuation re-rating. 

“We favour capex beneficiaries over consumption due to weak rural trends and the deficient monsoon. On the other hand, we recommend a cautious approach to new tech firms as each company should be analysed individually based on underlying business and valuations.”

The Fed's dovish turn has boosted global equity markets as investors gear up for three interest rate cuts in 2024. The RBI is expected to follow suit with its own rate cuts, according to Emkay Global Financial Services. While equity investors are euphoric, the historical trend varies. Emkay's analysis shows that the initial leg of rate-cut cycles by the RBI has had mixed results for equities (Nifty) over the last 15 years. Read more.

The ₹151-crore IPO of jewellery retailer Motisons Jewellers sailed through within an hour on the first day amid high demand from retail and NII investors. Around 11 am the issue was subscribed 2.34 times, with the retail category subscribed 3.60 times and the NII quota 1.92 times.

Foreign promoter General Atlantic Singapore Fund has sold 1.7 crore shares of KFin Technologies, comprising nearly 10% of the paid-up equity, through open market transactions. 

The shares were sold at an average of ₹500.5, valuing the deal at ₹850.85 crore. Buyers included ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Societe Generale, and IIFL Securities Limited.

At 11 am the Sensex was down 4.59 points or 0.01% at 71,479.16, and the Nifty was up 4.50 points or 0.02% at 21,461.20.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index is up 0.56%, while the BSE Smallcap index has hit a new record high of 42337.17.

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders's stock is up 3% on news that the company has signed individual contracts worth about $42 million with a European client to build three 7,500 DWT multi-purpose hybrid powered vessels.

Bajaj Auto shares hit a 52-week high of ₹6,486.75 today. The stock is currently up 2.7% on the day, and 80.3% so far this year.

"There are two significant factors driving the strong rally. FIIs have made a u-turn and turned big buyers, having invested around ₹20,000 crore, including bulk purchase, in the past two weeks.

"The rally is also being driven by segments like banking and IT which were underperformers for quite some time. During the last two weeks, the Nifty is up by 6%, while Bank Nifty is up 7.4% and Nifty IT is up around 11%.

"Since there is huge delivery based buying in these segments, they have the potential to remain resilient. An important point from recent market experience is that in the tug of war between FIIs and DIIs, the latter have been trumping the former consistently by buying from them when they sell and selling to them the very same stocks which they sold, at much higher prices.

"Global and domestic factors, except valuations, are favourable for the market. It makes sense to remain invested, particularly in large caps.

“Some profit booking can be considered in mid and small caps where valuations are very high.”

Zydus Lifesciences's stock is up 3% to a 52-week high of ₹672.35 on news that the it has received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Lacosamide Tablets USP, 50 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, and 200 mg.

At 10 am the Sensex was down 110.43 points or 0.15% at 71,373.32, and the Nifty was down 21.20 points or 0.10% at 21,435.50.

Sugar stocks have surged after the government reversed an order banning the use of sugarcane juice for making ethanol. 

Shares of Indian Surcose soared 10.65% to ₹90, while Dhampur Sugar Mills' stock was up 8.22% cent at ₹268.45. Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar's stock was up 9.22% at ₹30.55, while Balrampur Chini Mills' shares surged 7.15% to ₹412.05 and Dwarikesh Sugar Industries' shares rose 6.39% to ₹91.38. 

IREDA's stock tanked more than 9% amid profit booking. The stock in now down more than 18% over two trading sessions.

Shares of United Spirits Limited fell more than 2% to ₹1,060 in early trade. 

The company said on Friday it had received a claim worth ₹365.33 crore from a national institutional customer on 11 December. The claim relates to "a previously concluded settlement with the customer where all recovery claims made by the customer had been fully settled", it said in an exchange filing. It said it currently cannot determine the financial implications of the claim.

Zee Entertainment shares are in the red for the fourth consecutive day today, down nearly 3.5%. The company said in a stock exchange filing on Sunday that it had sought another extension of a deadline to merge with Indian arm of Sony. 

SoftBank has sold 1.14 crore shares of the company for ₹914 crore ( ₹800.05 each). Buyers include Government Pension Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund.

Shares of JSW Steel are down more than 3% today after reports said over the weekend that the Mumbai police have booked JSW Group’s managing director and chairman Sajjan Jindal for alleged rape. Jindal denied the allegations in a statement on Sunday. Read more.

The food ministry has reversed its ban on the use of sugarcane juice for making ethanol. In a directive to all sugar mills and distilleries, the ministry said the oil marketing companies will issue a revised allocation of sugarcane juice and B heavy molasses-based ethanol to each distillery for the 2023-24 supply year.

At 9.15 am the Sensex was down 276.77 points or 0.39% at 71,206.98, and the Nifty was down 72.40 points or 0.34% at 21,384.30. 

Indian indices opened marginally lower amid mixed global cues.

The rupee opened marginally higher at 82.96 per dollar on Monday from Friday's close of 83.

Edelweiss Financial Services has commenced its 10-20% stake sale in Edelweiss Alternative Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary, from which it expects to raise ₹1,500-2,000 crore.

The Adani group has kicked off a series of roadshows to attract wealthy retail investors to buy shares of its 10 listed companies, 11 months after a withering attack by US short seller Hindenburg Research forced the country’s largest conglomerate to drop a previous effort. Read more.