Sensex zooms 437 points, Nifty ends above 13,600; broader indices outperform

Indian equity markets rose nearly 1% on Wednesday led by strong gains in IT, FMCG, realty stocks and PSU banks.

The benchmark Sensex closed 437 points, or 0.95%, higher at 46,444.18 and Nifty settled 135 points, or 1%, higher at 13,601.10.

Mid- and small-caps shined, with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 2.4% and 2.6%, respectively.

All sectoral indices closed higher for the day.

CBDT issues refunds of over Rs. 1,50,863 crore to more than 1.18 crore taxpayers during 1 April-20 December. Income tax refunds of ₹47,608 crore have been issued in 1,16,07,299 cases & corporate tax refunds of ₹1,03,255 crore have been issued in 2,01,796 cases.

Businesses with monthly turnover of over ₹50 lakh will have to mandatorily pay at least 1% of their GST liability in cash, the finance ministry said as it moved to curb evasion by fake invoicing.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has introduced Rule 86B in Goods and Services Tax (GST) rules which restricts use of input tax credit (ITC) for discharging GST liability to 99%.

State-run RailTel Corp. of India Ltd is exploring the option of charging passengers for using public Wi-Fi services at railway stations, ahead of its ₹700-crore initial public offering (IPO) slated for early next year, a person aware of the matter said.

While customers can use low-speed internet for free, those seeking higher download speeds will have to pay according to the plan they choose, the person said, requesting anonymity. (Read here)

IOC, GAIL, HPCL, NTPC, NHPC, PFC, REC, NALCO, HAL, RITES, MTNL in PSUs with asset monetisation aims.

Xiaomi Corp. founder Lei Jun can finally rejoice after the Chinese smartphone maker’s market value swelled past the $100 billion mark, a figure his company fell far short of when it listed two years ago.

The water and effluent treatment business has secured multiple EPC orders for the execution of rural piped water supply schemesin various districts of Madhya Pradesh. The projects are part of Jal Jeevan Mission and cover the districts of Guna, Ashoknagar, Shivpuri, Agar Malwa Et Singrauli.

Antony Waste Handling Cell initial public offering (IPO) was subscribed 3.85 times on the second day of its subscription on Tuesday.

The solid waste management company, however, failed to impress players in the grey market, with the premium slipping from around ₹160 two days ago to the range between ₹26 and 30 today.

By the end of second day, the IPO raised about ₹300 crore, receiving bids for 2,56,65,478 shares against 66,66,342 on offer, as per NSE data.

Emami’s two plants at Vapi, Gujarat, and Masat in West Bengal, have received WHO-GMP certification for three years. The units manufacture ayurveda healthcare products under the 'Zandu' brand.

Despite multiple concerns including the covid-19 pandemic, macroeconomic outlook and geopolitical tensions, deals worth $80 billion were struck across 1,268 transactions in 2020, a 7% increase in terms of value when compared to 2019, said a PwC India report.

Brent crude futures fell 71 cents, or 1.4%, to $49.37 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid 67 cents, or 1.4%, to $46.35 a barrel. Both contracts fell nearly 2% on Tuesday, already a second straight session of declines.

Cairn Energy Plc has won an arbitration over tax dispute with Indian government, serving a double-blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government after a similar loss against Vodafone Group Plc.

An international arbitration tribunal ruled that India’s tax claim of $1.2 billion rupees in past taxes was not a valid demand, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified citing rules on speaking to the media. The tribunal has also asked India to pay the funds withheld along with the interest to the Scottish oil explorer for seizing dividend, tax refund and sale of shares to partly recover the dues. India can appeal.

IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, could start slowly rehiring staff in three months as capacity rebuilds from “the background of carnage” caused by Covid-19, with domestic services likely to return to pre-pandemic levels by January or February, Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta said. (Read here)

"Indian equities have entered a bull market environment as evidenced by the one year rolled forward P/E at 22x rising beyond the peak of FY08 at ~20x on an ‘ex-ante basis’ and significant broadening of the market rally by market cap size and various investment styles (Dividend yield, PSUs, High Beta, Small caps etc)," says ICICI Securities.

The brokerage firm's top picks for 2021 are - SBI Life, ICICI Lombard, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, Ultratech, Infosys, Dabur, Bajaj Auto; in the midcap space – GGL, Balkrishna, Alkem, Astral Polytechnik, Akzo Nobel; and among smallcaps - Greenpanel, Heritage foods, and Bajaj Consumer.

Shares of Burger King are currently trading 201% above the issue price. The stock trades at 6.2 times on FY20 EV/sales basis. Short term investors can book profit at the current market price. Investors with a long term horizon can keep their money invested in the stock as growth prospects of the company are promising and as operating leverage will kick in, it will improve company's margins.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday said its Swiss subsidiary, Glenmark Specialty S.A., has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Menarini Group (Menarini) for commercialising its innovative nasal spray Ryaltris across 33 countries in Europe, including the Balkan region.

In our sense, for the next couple of days at least, the index is likely to remain in a slightly wider range before deciding its next path. The ideal range would be 13600 to 13100, where the lower range should be seen as a sacrosanct support, which is the ’89-EMA’ level on ‘180-minutes’ chart. On the higher side, if Nifty has to regain strength, it needs to surpass 13550 – 13600 with participation of few marquee heavyweights, especially from the banking space.

For the coming session, the intermediate supports are placed at 13396 – 13342 – 13266. Since the last few days we have been a bit cautious and we continue to remain so; but traders can now opt to stay stock specific, where we are likely to see trading opportunities on both sides. As far as sectors are concerned, IT stocks continue to attract buying interest and they are expected to do well in the coming session as well. Apart from this, few stocks from the ‘Oil And Gas’ universe have reached their support and are likely to see some bounce back moves.

Improved order inflows have been boosting prospects and sentiment for infrastructure companies. Sadbhav Engineering Ltd saw its stock prices gain almost 7% on Tuesday as the company was declared the lowest bidder by Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) Limited.

With the order expected to be awarded soon, the forward revenue visibility for the company will improve to about five years. Sadbhav’s orderbook stood at around ₹9,397 crore at the end of September quarter, which was more than 4 times the company’s FY20 revenues.

Dilip Buildcon Limited has received a letter of acceptance (LOA) for a new EPC project worth ₹1,000 crore which involves construction of eight-lane access controlled expressway starting near NH-12 near village Ummedpura to Major bridge over Takli river near Nayagaon Jageer village section of Delhi - Vadodara Green field Alignment (NH-148N) in Rajasthan.

13100-13150 is a good support for the Nifty and we are trading well above that this morning. Until that level is not threatened we continue to remain in bullish territory. If that level breaks, we could slide down to 12800. On the upside, we need to get past the hurdles of 13700-13800 to start forming an opinion to go long again. Hence, a wait and watch approach would be a prudent way to deal with the current markets.

Oil fell in early trade on Wednesday after industry data showed U.S. crude oil stocks rose last week, defying expectations of a decline, and U.S. President Donald Trump rattled markets by threatening not to sign a long-awaited COVID-19 relief bill.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 46 cents, or 1%, to $46.56 a barrel, while Brent crude futures dropped 46 cents, or 0.9%, to $49.62.

Wipro has said it estimates its contract with Metro to generate $700 million in revenue in the first five years. The company has the option to extend the contract by four more years, leading to potential spending of more than $1 billion, it said in a statement.

India is likely to approve Oxford/AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use by next week, Reuters reported citing sources.

Separately, the company said it has received marketing authorisation for an asthma drug from the Drugs Controller General of India.

Infosys Ltd on Tuesday said it has bagged multi-year technology contract from Germany’s Daimler AG, with the deal size estimated at a billion dollars.