Sensex, Nifty end flat; NTPC, IT shares shine; Reliance, Tata Steel slip

The broader indices ended on a mixed note; among sectors, the IT index was up a per cent, while the energy, oil & gas and metal indices declined over a per cent each

Closing Bell

The key benchmark indices witnessed yet another rangebound trading session as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines amid the year-end celebrative mood. IT and power shares were in demand, while index heavyweight Reliance Industries offsetted the possible gains.

The BSE benchmark index, the Sensex, opened 50-odd points lower at 57,755, but soon rebounded into the positive zone and touched a high of 58,010. The Sensex finally settled with a nominal loss of 12 points at 57,794 on the penultimate day of the year 2021.



The NSE Nifty was down 10 points at a close of 17,204.

Market Dashboard: Snapshot of key movers and shakers in trade today

"The Nifty traded in a narrow range throughout the day and ultimately posted a negative daily close. For the last couple of sessions, it is trading in a range-bound manner and has formed candles resembling Doji pattern on the daily chart. This shows exhaustion in the pullback. Formation of these candles below the junction of a falling trendline & the 40 DEMA suggests that the index is encountering a tough barrier on the higher side," said Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Adding: "In terms of the levels, 17300 is keeping the rise in check and can continue to pose as a key hurdle. Unless the level of 17300 gets taken out on a closing basis, the Nifty is expected to take a dip in order to fill up a recent gap area of 17,161 – 17,112 with a potential to test 17,000 on the downside."

Stocks in action

NTPC was the top gainer among the Sensex 30 shares. The stock rose more than 3 per cent to Rs 127 after the company announced its plan to hive-off up to 50 per cent stake in its newly formed renewable energy arm in the next fiscal year. IndusInd Bank, Dr.Reddy's and Titan were the other prominent gainers.

IT stocks were in demand on hopes of strong Q3 earnings. IDBI Capital in its earnings preview for the sector, sees demand outlook for all the IT companies to remain robust for Q3FY22 and for FY22E. They expect midcaps to outperform largecaps.

HCL Technologies rose 2 per cent. Wipro advanced 1.5 per cent, and TCS was up 1.2 per cent. Infosys edged 0.5 per cent higher. READ MORE

On the flip side, Reliance Industries was the major laggard. The stock slipped nearly 2 per cent in trades on Thursday and single-handedly accounted for a loss of 120 points on the BSE benchmark. Tata Steel and Maruti were the other notable losers.



Broader market snapshot

The broader indices finished on a mixed note. The BSE Midcap was down 0.2 per cent, while the Smallcap was up 0.3 per cent. The overall breadth was marginally positive. Out of 3,459 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,853 advanced and 1,508 declined today.

In the broader markets, Kalpataru Power Transmission (KPTL), a leading global EPC player in the power and infrastructure contracting sector, ended 5 per cent higher after the company announced that it had  secured new orders worth Rs 1,560 crore from India, Africa, CIS and South America in the power transmission business. READ MORE

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Among secotral indices, the BSE Energy, Oil & Gas and Metal indices declined over a per cent each, while the IT index ended a per cent higher.
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Markets at 2:30 pm 

LIVE market updates: The headline indices were sharply off the day's highs and were trading flat. The BSE Sensex was at 57,869, up 60 points, while the NSE Nifty was marginally up at 17,220.

Index heavyweight Reliance was down over 2 per cent on the BSE, followed by Bajaj twins, ITC, Sun Pharma, M&M, Kotak Bank and SBI Bank. 

Further, shares of footwear companies such as Relaxo, Metro Brands, Liberty shoes were trading higher. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 46th meeting of the Goods and Service Tax Council meeting in New Delhi on Friday, December 31. The agenda of the meeting will be to discuss the inverted duty structure of certain sectors including footwear and textiles and some pharma products. READ MORE. 

Sectorally, metals, realty, PSU banks, Auto indices were sharply down, trading 0.8-1.5 per cent lower on the NSE.

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Markets at 1:30 pm

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices continued to hover in a rangebound manner in after-noon trade, but were steadily higher than their respective lows of the day. The BSE Sensex, at 57,955 was 376 points up from its low point of the day. The NSE Nifty too was around 100 points higher from the day's low at 17,242. 

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap remained an underperformer, down 0.25 per cent. Pharma midcaps, however, such as Alkem Labs, Ipca Labs, Glenmark, and GSK were trading 1-4 per cent higher, limiting the index's fall. 

The BSE SmallCap index held onto its gains and was 0.4 per cent up. Goa Carbon( up 20 per cent), Rane (up 18 per cent), CyberTech, Nureca, (up 15 per cent each) and Graphite (up 14 per cent) were leading the gains.  

Further, the shares of NTPC were trading with steady gains of near 2 per cent after the company announced its plan to hive-off stake in its newly formed formed renewable energy arm. The stock touched a high of Rs 125.95, and was quoted at Rs 125.20 - up 1.7 per cent as of 12:45 am on the BSE. READ MORE.

European markets: European indices are likely to open mostly higher as holiday-thinned trading continued in the region.The German DAX is set to rise by 18 points to 15,856 and the French CAC by 10 points to 7,163, but the U.K.’s FTSE is expected to drop 3 points to 7,413.

Global investors are looking for a Santa Claus rally to close out a year of solid returns. The FTSE and the DAX are on track to see gains of 15 per cent for this year, while the French CAC is close to a 30 per cent gain.

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Markets at 12 noon

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices came off their respective highs of the day in noon deals and were moving in a thin range, after a slight recovery in late morning. The BSE Sensex was 100 points higher at 57,921, while the NSE Nifty was 17,237, up 24 points. 

Among the Sensex-30 shares, heavyweight Reliance was down 0.6 per cent. Financial stocks including Kotak Bank, Bajaj twins, ICICI Bank, SBI Bank, Axis Bank were in the red, down 0.1-1 per cent.  

IT stocks were outperforming in trades on hopes of strong earings show for the December quarter. The BSE IT index hit a new all-time high at 37,870, and was up a per cent at 37,814, as against a 0.2 per cent rise on the BSE Sensex. READ MORE.

Further, the shares of Kalpataru Power Transmission (KPTL), a leading global EPC player in the power and infrastructure contracting sector, surged 7.2 per cent in intraday trades on the BSE to a high of Rs 382 on Thursday after the company announced large order wins. READ MORE. 

Asian markets

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly higher in Thursday trade after gains overnight on Wall Street led to a record close for both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.21 per cent by the afternoon.

Mainland Chinese stocks were also higher, with the Shanghai composite up about 0.8 per cent and the Shenzhen component gaining 1.19 per cent.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.28 per cent while the Topix index declined 0.15 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.47 per cent. 

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Markets at 11 am

LIVE market updates: The broader market was seen underperforming the benchmarks with the BSE MidCap index trading 0.2 per cent lower. On the other hand, the SmallCap index still managed to stay in the green zone, up 0.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty were around 0.2 per cent higher after mildly recouping early morning losses. 

On the BSE MidCap index, RBL Bank was down 8 per cent, while Aditya Birla Fashion, IDFC First Bank, Cholamandalam Investment, L&T Finance Holdings, Shriram Transport Finance, Canara Bank, Concor, Oberoi Realty and Honeywell Automation were down 1.4-3 per cent.

Among smallcap shares, Purvankara, Moil, Delta Corp, Forbes and company, and 63 Moons Technologies were down 3.5-5 per cent.  

Moreover, the share price of Delta Corp fell following reports that the Goa government imposed fresh restrictions on occupancy rate to entertainment parks including casinos in wake of the Omicron threat. READ MORE.

Similarly, the stock action in Purvankara has come after the company announced that it will sell 49 percent stake in arm Keppel Puravankara Development to Keppel Investment for Rs 112 crore.

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Markets at 10 am

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices slightly inched up in early morning trade after mild recovery. The BSE Sensex was nearly 100 points higher at 57,918 while the NSE Nifty managed to stay above the 17,200 mark. It was 30 points up at 17,245. 

These gains were on the back of buying in IT stocks. On the Sensex, Wipro, TCS, Infosys, HCL Technologies were trading 0,5-2 per cent higher. Gains in Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy's NTPC, PowerGrid, Nestle, Asian Paints also helped the index trim early losses.

On the Nifty, SBI Life, Cipla, Tata Consumer, Grasim were additional gainers, up 0.7-0.9 per cent. Oil and Gas, Public banks and Auto shares were in red on the index. BPCL, Coal India, IOC were down 0.6-0.8 per cent. Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Hero Motor Corp were down 0.3-2 per cent. 

Among Public Banks, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Canara Bank, Union Bank and SBI were trading 0.4-1 per cent lower, on the NSE.
The Auto and Realty indices on the exchange were leading in the red zone, down 0.3 and 0.6 per cent. 

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Opening Bell
 

LIVE market updates: The headline indices opened on a quite note for a second day amid slow investor participation and concerns around the omicron variant.  The BSE Sensex was nearly 50 points lower at 57,755, while the Nifty50 was testing the 17,200-mark.
 

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap was 0.1 per cent lower dragged by RBL Bank, Oberoi Realty, Shriram Transport Finance, Godrej Properties, Indian Hotels, Lodha, JSW Energy, IRCTC,  down 1-3 per cent. 

The BSE SmallCap index was, however, in the green zone, up 0.3 per cent. 

Among Sensex-30 constituents, PowerGrid, Wipro, Tata Steel,Titan, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy's, Maruti, TCS, Infosys were the leading gainers, up 0.3-1 per cent. On the Nifty, Tata Consumer was the additional gainer.

On the flip side, Bajaj Twins, Sun Pharma, M&M, HDCF, Axis Bank, L&T, SBI, Reliance were the top losers, down 0.2-1.3 per cent.

Bajaj Auto, Here Motor, BPCL, Coal India, Adani Ports were the additonal losers on the NSE. 

Among sectors, public sector banks and realty indices on the Nifty were down the most by up to 0.7 per cent.
 

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Pre-open session

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices were largely muted in the pre-open session on Thursday. Both the indices were seen declining. The BSE Sensex was down 70 points at 57,728, while the Nifty50 was at 17168, down 45 points.

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LIVE market updates: The key benchmark indices are likely to start on a flattish note on Thursday after having ended lower a day before in a choppy trading session.  At 8:15 am, the SGX Nifty was quoting 17,284 , as compared to the Nifty's spot close of 17,213 on Wednesday. 

  

Among individual shares, Hindustan Unilever and the entire FMCG pack will be in focus, as the distributors of the former plan to stop supply of its products in Maharashtra in a phased manner starting from January 1, at the same time demand for FMCG products in the December quarter has been weaker. READ MORE

Shares of Tata Group hospitality arm Indian Hotels will also be eyed as the company has acquired the balance 14.28 percent equity stake in ELEL Hotels and Investments. 

Further, financial stocks may also be looked out for as the RBI, in its Financial Stability Report has said that banks’ asset quality may deteriorate further but lenders have enough capital to withstand a severe shock.

Bad loans of commercial banks in India may rise to between 8.1 and 9.5 per cent under varied degrees of stress by September 2022 from 6.9 per cent in September 2021, the central bank added. 
 

Global cues

The US retailers backed by strong holiday season sales boosted the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 to a record high. Dow was up for the sixth straight trading session, up 0.3 per cent on Wednesday. The S&P 500 advanced 0.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.1 per cent.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after US inventories fell, thus offsetting demand concerns from Omicron fears. Brent Crude gained 0.4 per cent at $79.23 a barrel, and WTI Crude rose 0.8 per cent to $76.56 a barrel.

Markets in Asia this morning had opened on a quiet note. Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, Kospi and Taiwan were up 0.0 - 0.3 per cent each. Nikkei and Straits Times were down 0.1 per cent each.