Sensex ends 90 pts down, Nifty above 17,200; Pharma, Auto gain

After a volatile session, India's benchmark indices closed lower on Wednesday with a negative bias.

Sensex fell 90.99 points or 0.16% to end the day at 57,806.49, and the Nifty was down 19.65 points or 0.11% at 17,213.60.

Eicher Motors, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Divis Lab, abd IndusInd Bank were among the top gainers on Nifty, while SBI, ITC, Coal India, Grasim, and NTPC fell.

Pharma index rose over 1.5% percent and Auto gained 0.42% while metal, oil & gas, power indices ended lower. Broader markets were mixed with MidCaps outperforming.

On Sensex, 12 stocks of the total 30 ended in the green. Sun Pharma was the top gainer.

Crude oil prices on Wednesday rose ₹2 to ₹5,685 per barrel as participants widened their positions on a firm spot demand.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for the January delivery traded higher by ₹2, or 0.04 per cent, to ₹5,685 per barrel in 8,843 lots.

Analysts said the raising of bets by participants kept crude oil prices higher in the futures trade.

The union coal ministry plans to increase washed coking coal supplies to steel sector from 3 million tonne (mt) to 15 mt.

“Coal Ministry giving further boost to steel sector; plans to enhance supply of washed coking coal to steel sector from 3 to 15 Million Ton. Two coking coal washeries commissioned, three more under construction," coal ministry said in a tweet on Wednesday.

State-run REC Limited’s subsidiary REC Power Development and Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL) handed over the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for the construction of transmission project for supplying electricity from 1 gigawatt (GW) renewable energy projects in Osmanabad to IndiGrid 1 Limited and IndiGrid 2 Limited on Tuesday. 

Domestic brokerage and research firm HDFC Securities has recommended top two stock picks which are pharmaceuticals company Cadila Healthcare and IT Consulting & Software provider Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd (OFSS) as ‘Buy’ ratings with the time frame of over the next two quarters.

MUMBAI: Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES, India’s oldest ETF, has completed 20 years since its launch on 28 December 2001. The exchange traded fund (ETF) was originally launched as part of Benchmark Mutual Fund, which accounts for the BeES part of its name. Since then it has undergone three changes of ownership before ultimately finding a place in the basket of funds managed by Nippon India Asset Management Company (AMC).

Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES has ₹5,113 crore worth assets under management (AUM). It has delivered a return of 15.98% since inception. It has an expense ratio of just 0.05%. ₹1 lakh invested in the ETF at inception would now be worth ₹19.4 lakh.

Stocks in Europe edged higher on Wednesday along with U.S. equity-index futures as investors assessed the economic implications of the omicron coronavirus outbreak. Treasuries and the dollar were steady.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index nudged to within a whisker of another record, with retailers outperforming. Technology shares declined, following the sector’s retreat in Asia and the U.S. Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rose after the rally in U.S. stocks paused on Tuesday. Volumes remained thin into the end of the year in some markets.

Over 4.86 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) have been filed for the Assessment Year 2021-22 till December 28, Income Tax Department data showed on Wednesday.

A total 18,89,057 income tax returns were filed on December 28. With this, the cumulative number of ITRs filed for the Assessment Year 2021-22 rose to 4,86,34,306.

Bajaj Auto has today announced an investment of ₹300 crore and commenced work at a brand-new unit at Akurdi for manufacturing electric vehicles. This unit will have a production capacity of 500,000 EVs per annum. Akurdi (Pune) is also the site of the original Chetak scooter factory that made Bajaj Auto a household name in India. It is spread over half a million sq. feet and will employ nearly 800 people.

Global cryptocurrency exchange, OKEx, has listed more coins like axie infinity (AXS), gala (GALA), dogecoin (DOGE), shiba inu (SHIB), baby doge (BABYDOGE), kishu inu (KISHU), and dogelon mars (ELON) under its express buy trading option.

OKEx users can purchase tokens directly using fiat currencies like the Indian rupee, Pakistani rupee, Philippine peso and Vietnamese dong in the express buy area. The platform will help complete the exchange process from fiat into tether (USDT), a stablecoin, and then into the target token.

The associate entity of Paytm, Paytm Payments Banks has announced appointment of three independent directors. The board of Paytm Payments Bank has approved the appointment of former DPIIT secretary Ramesh Abhishek), banking veteran with SBI Manju Agarwal, and banker Shinjini Kumar as independent directors.

List of public issues in the pipeline for early next year.

Retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has asked all the account holders to add a nominee by 31 December and if a account holder does not add a nominee then the individual may have to forego various benefits offered by EPFO. Subscribers can add nominee online by following the certain steps as suggested by EPFO.

How to do it online in 8 steps as deadline ends on 31 Dec.

State-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders informed that the company's board of Directors of at their meeting held on Tuesday, 28 December 2021, approved declaration of interim dividend of ₹7.10 per share. The board has declared Friday, 7 January, 2022 as the record date for reckoning eligibility of shareholders for the purpose of payment of interim dividend.

Oil held near a one-month high after industry data pointed to another drop in U.S. crude inventories and traders bet the fast-spreading omicron virus variant would prove to be less severe than earlier waves.

West Texas Intermediate was steady near $76 a barrel after gaining 11% over the last five sessions. The American Petroleum Institute reported nationwide crude holdings fell by 3.1 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data, which also showed a rise at Cushing, the biggest U.S. storage hub. The government releases the official tally later on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is changing its banking rules from 1 January 2022. New rules are being introduced with respect to withdrawal as well as depositing cash. IPPB account holders will have to pay more for depositing cash and making cash withdrawals if they exceed the prescribed limit. 

For the year 2022, domestic brokerage and research firm Motilal Oswal has shared its top stock picks for the new year which includes two Tata Group stocks Tata Motors and Titan, under the list of the brokerage's largecaps ideas. While sectors like banking and auto have underperformed the market so far, Motilal believes that they have the potential to turn out the dark horse in 2022.

The Indian rupee was trading in a narrow range in morning trade on Wednesday as muted domestic equities and firm crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee started on a tepid note at 74.69 against the dollar. It traded in a narrow band of of 74.68 to 74.76 in initial deals.

On Tuesday, the rupee registered its ninth straight session of gain and surged 30 paise to close at a one-month high of 74.70 against the US dollar.

Mumbai based business conglomerate, JSW Group, is offering incentives to its employees for the purchase of electric vehicles on New Year. The steel major will be offering ₹3 lakh to its employees starting January 1, 2022 for the purchase of electric vehicles. The company will also be offering parking and charging options as well at its office premises to boost the adoption of EVs among its workers. The amount will be given for electric four wheelers and two wheelers purchases.

Zensar Technologies (Zensar) offers application & IMS services to hi-tech, manufacturing, retail and BFSI. The company has grown organically and inorganically over the years with net debt free and healthy double digit return ratio (with RoCE of 19%), highlighted brokerage house ICICI Securities.

Zensar’s share price has grown by around 2.6 times over the past five years (from around ₹175 in December 2016 to ₹ ₹470 levels in December 2021). The brokerage firm remains positive on the multibagger stock, that is up around 115% this year, and has maintained Buy rating. It values Zensar at ₹565 per share (target price) with a target period of around twelve months.

Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday mentioned about leadership transition at his energy-to-retail conglomerate, saying he wants the process to be accelerated with seniors, including him, yielding to the younger generation.

We expect UltraTech Cement (UTCEM) to continue to post industry leading growth and profitability over FY21-24E backed by low-cost brownfield expansions and increased cost efficiencies. Its diversified pan-India market mix, premium brand positioning, strong distribution network and large presence in non-trade segment allow it to wither current demand uncertainties much better than peers.

Cost-saving initiatives may result in Rs100/te benefits (our estimate) by FY24E, and RoCE (post-tax) may expand by >400bps over FY22-24E to ~17%. Dividend payout ratio has increased from 10% in FY20 to 20% in FY21 which may rise further as UTCEM is likely to generate Rs200bn FCF over FY21-24E. Maintain BUY with an unchanged target price of Rs8,850/sh (15x Dec’23E EV/E). UTCEM remains our top pick. 
Key risk: Lower demand/pricing.

Amara Raja Batteries Limited, industrial and automotive battery maker, has today announced its plans to invest in InoBat Auto, a European technology developer and manufacturer of premium innovative batteries for e-mobility. The initial investment will give Amara Raja a key foothold in the thriving European EV ecosystem, where multiple battery gigafactories are being set up to support the region’s determined EV push, including in the UK, which is seeing a rising need to address increasing demand for electric vehicles. 

India’s second-largest multiplex chain, INOX Leisure Ltd has announced the launch of a four-screen theatre in Dhanbad and a five-screen property in Gurugram. This is INOX’s second property in Jharkhand and ninth in Haryana. 

The markets regulator on Tuesday tightened rules for initial public offerings aimed at tackling regulatory gaps and extreme stock price volatility on their trading debut, after a record year for IPOs that saw Indian companies raise ₹1.19 trillion.

The new rules address how companies set IPO price bands, when anchor investors can sell their shares, disclosures about how the company can spend share sale proceeds, and how much large shareholders can sell on listing day.

It is heartening to see the Nifty above 17250; it needs to close above this level. That is crucial. If we can trade between 17250-17300 for a couple of sessions we should be heading to 17600. A strong support lies at 16800 and every dip can now be utilized to accumulate long positions.

Ami Organics is one of the major manufacturers of Pharma Intermediates for certain key APIs, including Dolutegravir, Trazodone, Entacapone, Nintedanib and Rivaroxaban which find application in certain high-growth therapeutic areas, commanding significant market share both in India and globally.

With the presence in high growing and niche markets, Ami Organics Limited is set to continue to post better growth in mid term, as per brokerage house Anand Rathi. It has initiated coverage on the specialty chemical stock with a Buy rating and a target price of ₹1,354 per share.

3 stocks to buy or sell today — 29th December.

Despite the world reeling under the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian equity market climbed record high giving a good number of multibagger stocks in 2021. Interestingly, this rally in the stock market was participatory as the list of multibagger stocks in India includes some penny stocks too. Tata Teleservices share is one such multibagger penny stock that surged from ₹2.75 to ₹178.30 per share levels, appreciating to the tune of near 65 times in near one year time.

We will enter New Year 2022 in just a couple of days. We always seem to make new lists - be it personal or financial. Stock markets analysts are scouring through the markets, finding the stocks they like, and putting together their lists of ‘Top Picks,’.

Top stocks recommendations for the upcoming year 2022 includes SBI, GAIL, HDFC Bank, TCS, among others.

Bitcoin extended losses, deepening its December decline with the world's most popular and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization trading 5% lower to $47,912, after it slid below $50,000 mark on Tuesday. Bitcoin, famed for its volatility, has shed more than $21,000 since hitting a record in early November, and is up around 64% in 2021 (year-to-date or YTD). Check latest prices.

RBL Bank, Vodafone Idea and Indiabulls Housing Finance are the three stocks that continue to be under the ban for trade on Wednesday, December 29, 2021 under the futures and options (F&O) segment by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). These securities have been put on ban under the F&O segment as they have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit (MWPL), as per the NSE.

Nifty enters the key zone, all eyes on financials now

Yesterday’s (Monday) spectacular recovery was followed by a decent bump at the opening today (Tuesday), citing to positive mood across the globe. The index extended its early lead a bit to surpass the 17200 mark and then slipped into a consolidation mode. All of a sudden at the stroke of the penultimate hour, market came off sharply on the back of some profit booking. Fortunately this tiny dip got bought into as Nifty went on to conclude the session around day’s high by reclaiming 17200.

Last week, around the same time, things were looking a bit dicey but in such a short span, we are back to the safe terrain comfortably above 17000. Now with recent price development, the base seems to have shifted higher towards 17000 – 16800 and till the time we do not slide below it, there is no reason to worry for. Before this, 17100 is to be considered as intraday support. On the flipside, the Nifty has now entered a key resistance zone of 17200 – 17300. With reference to recent commentary, if bulls have to regain their dominance, they need to conquer this sturdy wall with some authority. In order to achieve this, it needs a solid support from banking giants, because the initial lifting of the market was done predominantly by the IT counters and now it’s time for financial space to prove its significance. Let’s see how things pan out over the next couple of sessions as we are not only approaching the monthly expiry but also the calendar year end.

In our sense, if any major action has to happen, it will happen in the new year itself. Hence, for next couple of days, the pragmatic approach would be to keep focusing on individual themes which are continuously providing better trading opportunities.

Here is the list of the top 10 stocks that are likely to be in focus on Wednesday:

Most Asian stocks dipped Wednesday after a technology selloff weighed on U.S. equities and as investors assessed the omicron virus-strain outbreak.

Shares slipped in Japan, technology stocks retreated in Hong Kong and China edged down. U.S. futures fluctuated after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 weakened Tuesday, snapping four sessions of gains. Volumes remained thin into the end of the year in some markets.

Sentiment in China is being sapped by Beijing’s tightening oversight of overseas share sales and economic risks from a property slowdown. Authorities are expected to add stimulus next year to steady expansion.

Treasury yields fell and a dollar gauge inched higher. Crude oil held around a one-month high partly on bets that the global recovery will ride out omicron. Bitcoin was around $48,000 after a tumble that hinted at diminished ardor for the most speculative assets.