Benchmarks extend rally; European shares open higher

The domestic stock market headed north in the afternoon trade, supported by strong global cues, reversal in crude oil prices and a sharp rebound in rupee. At 13:27 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 633.23 points or 1.55% at 41,450.97. The Nifty 50 index gained 183.75 points or 1.53% at 12,209.10.

The rally was broad based with the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rising 1.51% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index jumping 1.60%.

There were more buyers then sellers. On the BSE, 1753 shares rose and 639 shares fell. A total of 188 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 42 stocks advanced while 8 stocks declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

JSW Steel (up 5.26%), Bharti Infratel (up 4.27%), ICICI Bank (up 3.66%), Tata Motors (up 3.65%) and State Bank of India (up 3.35%) were the top gainers.

Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.66%), Coal India (down 1%), HCL Technologies (down 1.96%), Britannia Industries (down 0.32%) and Wipro (down 0.31%) were the major losers.

Shares of Cipla and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rose by 1.39% to 2.32% on reports that both these companies received regulatory approval for increasing price of two of their respiratory products. According to the media report, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's (NPPA) has allowed Cipla and Glenmark to enhance pricing of two of their respiratory (inhaler) products on grounds that these were 'innovative' from the other similar products available in the market.

In a meeting in December, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's (NPPA) expert committee reportedly decided to allow Cipla's Synchrobreathe Inhaler Device a separate price other than the ceiling price already recommended by the regulator.

Bharti Airtel rose 0.66% to Rs 462 after the company launched qualified institutional placement to raise Rs 14,400 crore at an indicative floor price of Rs 452.09 per share. It also announced the issue of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) of an aggregate amount of upto $1 billion at a floor price of Rs 452.09.

On 5 December 2019, Bharti Airtel had informed about its plans to raise $2 billion via qualified institutional placement of shares and an additional $1 billion via foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs).

Foreign Markets:

European shares opened higher while Asian shares were up across the board on Thursday as the United States and Iran backed away from the brink of conflict in the Middle East while investors reversed their safety plays.

US stocks posted gains, with the Nasdaq notching a new record close, after remarks by President Trump suggested the US and Iran were refraining from further military action following attacks on US bases overnight, in retaliation for last week's killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani by American forces.

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