Sensex, Nifty hit day's high; HDFC twins lead

The benchmark indices hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade, buoyed by gains in HDFC twins. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 407.48 points or 0.88% at 46,670.65. The Nifty 50 index advanced 112.90 points or 0.83% at 13,680.75.

A possible approval of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine this week and progress in US stimulus talks lifted sentiment. The US Federal Reserve will issue an updated policy statement along with new economic projections on Wednesday. Traders will be watching closely for any changes to Fed view on when its benchmark policy rate might rise off zero.

Broader market indices outperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.89%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.09%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,904 shares rose and 1,067 shares fell. A total of 174 shares were unchanged.

Kerala local body election update:

Counting of votes polled in Kerala local body elections is under way at 244 centres in the state. A total of 21,893 wards in 1,200 local self-governing bodies including 6 corporations, 941 village panchayats, 14 district panchayats and 87 municipalities, went to polls in three phases on 8, 10 and 14 December 2020.

Initial trends from the counting of votes to the local body elections in Kerala show a clear advantage for the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in most of the rural and urban local bodies. As per the latest updates, LDF leads in 510 grama panchayats, United Democratic Front (UDF) 375, and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 24.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 7,34,76,721 with 16,35,464 deaths. India reported 3,32,002 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,44,096 deaths while 94,56,449 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Financial Services index rose 0.96% to 14,814.50. The index has added 2.52% in the four sessions.

HDFC Asset Management (up 2.42%), Mahindra & Mahindra Financial (up 2.31%), HDFC Bank (up 1.52%), ICICI Lombard (up 0.88%), Bajaj Finance (up 0.81%) and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (up 0.72%) advanced.

Concurrently, Shriram Transport (down 1.11%), ICICI Bank (down 0.77%) and HDFC Life (down 0.34%) declined.

Indian Bank shed 0.32% to Rs 92.40. The bank has fully provided for the non-performing account of IL&FS Financial Services with outstanding dues of Rs 408 crore. The bank has reported the account to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as per regulatory requirement.

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) added 3.74% to Rs 2438.90. HDFC said it plans to issue secured redeemable non-convertible dentures (NCDs) of Rs 10 lakh each, aggregating to Rs 5,000 crore (base size of Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 2,500 crore under green shoe option) with a coupon rate of 4.23% per annum on a private placement basis. The NCDs will have a tenor of 14 months and will be redeemed on 18 February 2022.

The issue will open for bidding on 17 December 2020 and it will close on the same day. The object of the issue is to augment the long-term resources of the corporation. The proceeds will be utilized for financing or refinancing the housing finance requirements of the corporation.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged lower to 73.5475 as compared to its previous closing of 73.635.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 5.948% compared with its closing of 5.941% in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement added 0.54% to Rs 49,710.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, shed 0.33% to 90.18.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2020 settlement added 1 cent to $50.77 a barrel. The contract gained 47 cents or 0.93% to settle at $50.76 in the previous trading session.

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