Sensex, Nifty End at Record High; Tata Steel & Hindalco Surge Over 7%

Mon, 4 Jan Closing

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   SGX Nifty   

   09:30 am   

   12:30 pm   

Indian share markets scaled fresh peaks today as investor sentiment was upbeat after the country gave emergency use approvals to two coronavirus vaccines over the weekend.

The government gave emergency use approvals to two coronavirus vaccines, produced by AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech.

Apart from the above, positive GST data collections, improving manufacturing PMI and impressive auto sales in December led to a growth of optimism among investors.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 308 points (up 0.6%). The Sensex rose above the 48,000 mark for the first time today.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 114 points (up 0.8%). The Nifty also ended above the 14,100-mark for the first time, at 14,133 levels.

ONGC and TCS were among the top gainers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,180, up by 134 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1.4%.

Midcap stocks were in focus today with the BSE Midcap index hitting record high on the back of a strong rally in metals, financials and public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks.

Barring banking stocks, all sectoral indices ended in green. Gains were largely seen in the metal sector, auto sector and IT sector.

IT stocks witnessed buying interest today with the Nifty IT index hitting fresh record high, as the sector kick starts its October-December quarter (Q3FY21) earnings from the current week.

TCS is scheduled to announce its Q3FY21 results on Friday, January 8, 2021. The board will also consider declaration of a third interim dividend to the equity shareholders.

Asian share markets ended higher today. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended up by 0.94% and the Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.86%. The Nikkei ended down by 0.7%.

US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices. Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 68 points (up 0.5%), while Dow Futures are trading up by 168 points (up 0.6%).

The rupee is trading at 73.01 against the US$.

The domestic currency jumped today, tracking a broader weakness in greenback and higher domestic equity markets. Rupee rose to a four-month high of 72.84 against the US dollar as compared to previous close of 73.12.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 1.8% at Rs 51,126 per 10 grams.

To know more about gold, you can check out our detailed article on investing in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Speaking of stock markets, Brijesh Bhatia, Research Analyst at Equitymaster, talks about the best sector for 2021, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

Tune in here to find out more:

In news from the economic space, manufacturing sector activities showed a marginal improvement in December compared to the previous month even as employment generation remained low, showed the widely-tracked IHS Markit purchasing managers' index (PMI) survey.

PMI inched up to 56.4 in December compared to 56.3 in November. However, it remained lower than 58.9 in October and 56.8 in September, the two months during which the economy saw a gradual lifting of lockdowns.

Manufacturing, in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose by 3.5% in October, according to the latest figures. However, it might come down going forward in line with PMI results, warned Pollyanna De Lima, Economics Associate Director at IHS Markit.

International demand for Indian goods rose in December, but evidence indicated that growth was hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, new export orders increased at the slowest pace in the current four-month sequence of expansion.

Input cost inflation accelerated to a 26-month high in December.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

In news from the banking sector, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has written to the finance ministry seeking details about the ongoing performance audit of government's massive recapitalisation exercise of public sector banks (PSBs).

CAG is doing performance audit on recapitalisation of PSBs after 2016-17 and it has written a letter to the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, seeking various information, including rationale for distribution of capital among different PSBs.

The Government of India made capital infusion to the tune of Rs 900 billion in 2017-18. This rose to Rs 1.06 lakh crore in the following year. During the last financial year, the capital infusion through bonds was Rs 700 billion.

For the current fiscal, the government has earmarked Rs 200 billion for the capital infusion into the PSBs. Of this, the government allocated Rs 55 billion to Punjab & Sind Bank in November 2020 for meeting the regulatory requirement prescribed under the Basel III guidelines.

Reports state that the audit may be going to analyze the impact of capital infusion in PSBs and how it has been able to improve the financial parameters such as Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and rate of growth of advances.

In its last report released in July 2017, CAG had pointed out some shortcomings in distribution of capital to various banks. It had also raised doubts over possibility of PSU banks raising about Rs 1 lakh crore from market by 2019.

The Centre infused Rs 1,187.2 billion in PSBs during 2008-09 to 2016-17. Of this, SBI received the maximum capital infusion of Rs 269.5 billion.

IDBI Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Bank of India were also significant beneficiaries.

Speaking of the banking sector, note that the sector was one of the worst affected sectors in the Indian stock market when Covid-19 struck.

Banking stocks were severely punished. No investor wanted to touch them even with a 10-ft pole.

However, sentiment have changed now as investors are chasing banking stocks like never before.

Have a look at the monthly returns of major sectors for the month of March and October 2020 in the chart below:

Banks were among major losers with a cut of 34% in the month of March. Cut to October, they were the biggest gainers for the month with more than 11% returns!

If you're interested in knowing what could be the reason behind such a change in sentiment, you can read about it in one of the editions of Profit Hunter: Banks are booming in a Covid World.

Moving on to stock specific news...

L&T and Tata Motors were among the top buzzing stocks today.

The Income Tax Department today carried out limited verification exercise at the office premises of the Zee Group and L&T to verify into their bogus inputs about tax credit.

A senior IT official said, "there are no searches or raids, but we are carrying out limited verification exercise at the offices of the Larsen and Toubro and Zee group as we had information that they had claimed bogus input tax credit."

The official said that it is basically a follow up exercise and there is limited action on both the groups.

The official refused to share the details of the offices where the verification process is being carried out.

Meanwhile, shares of Tata Motors rose 4% to hit an over 11-month high of Rs 193 in early trade today after the company reported a 21% increase in total vehicle sales in the domestic market to 53,430 units in December.

The stock was trading close to its 52-week high of Rs 201.80 touched on January 15, 2020.

Tata Motors' commercial vehicle (CV) domestic sales in the October-December quarter (Q3FY21) stood at 82,155 units, up 48% against the previous quarter, the company said in an exchange filing, post market hours on Friday.

M&HCVs and ILCVs led the recovery, growing by 10% and 7%, respectively over Q3FY20 with higher demand in infrastructure, including road construction, mining and e-commerce segments.

Passenger vehicle (PV) business posted a growth of 89% as compared to Q3FY20, its highest ever sales in the last 33 quarters.

This was significantly higher compared to its other listed peers. Maruti Suzuki's PV grew 14% in December, whereas M&M's passenger vehicle grew 3% during the same period.

Tata Motors share price ended the day up by 2.4%.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary

Top Gainers TodayTop Gainers over 1-WeekTop Gainers over 1-MonthTop Gainers over 1-YearTop Gainers over 3-YrsTop Gainers over 5-YrsTop Losers TodayTop Losers over 1-WeekTop Losers over 1-MonthTop Losers over 1-YearTop Losers over 3-YrsTop Losers over 5-YrsOnly BuyersOnly SellersMost Active StocksMost Popular Stocks52 Week High Stocks52 Week Low Stocks

INDICESBSE (Rs 0 to 1)BSE (Rs 1 to 2)BSE (Rs 2 to 4)BSE (Rs 4 to 10)BSE (Rs 10 to 20)BSE (Above Rs 20)BSE - AllBSE-30BSE-100BSE-200BSE-500BSE AutoBSE BankexBSE Capital GoodsBSE Consumer DurablesBSE FMCGBSE HealthcareBSE ITBSE MetalBSE Oil & GasBSE PSUBSE TeckBSE RealtyBSE PowerBSE A GroupBSE B GroupBSE Mid-CapBSE Small-CapBSE Basic MaterialsBSE Consumer DiscretionaryBSE IndustrialsBSE UtilitiesBSE Sensex 50BSE Sensex Next 50BSE Bharat 22BSE 150 MidCapBSE 250 SmallCapBSE 250 LargeMidCapBSE 400 MidSmallCapBSE AllCapBSE LargeCapBSE SmallCap SelectBSE 100 LargeCap TMCBSE InfraBSE ManufacturingBSE CPSEBSE Private BankBSE Diversified FinancialsBSE MomentumBSE Low VolatilityBSE QualityBSE Enhanced ValueBSE Divident StabilityS&P BSE IPOBSE SMEIPOBSE 100 ESGBSE CarbonexBSE GreenexNSE (Rs 0 to 10)NSE (Rs 10 to 20)NSE (Above Rs 20)NSE - AllNSE-50NSE ITNSE Nifty Midcap 50NSE JR. NiftyNSE Bank NiftyNIFTY Next 50NIFTY 100NIFTY 200NIFTY 500NIFTY MidCap 100NIFTY SmallCap 250NIFTY SmallCap 50NIFTY SmallCap 100NIFTY LargeMidCap 250NIFTY MidSmallCap 400NIFTY AutoNIFTY Consumer DurablesNIFTY FinanceNIFTY FMCGNIFTY MediaNIFTY MetalNIFTY PharmaNIFTY Private BankNIFTY PSU BankNIFTY RealtyNIFTY Oil & GasNIFTY SME EmergeNIFTY CommoditiesNIFTY CPSENIFTY EnergyNIFTY India ConsumptionNIFTY InfraNIFTY MNCNIFTY PSENIFTY Serv SectorNIFTY100 Liquid 15NIFTY Midcap Liquid 15NIFTY Midcap 150 Quality 50NIFTY50 Equal WeightNIFTY100 Equal WeightNIFTY100 Low Volatility 30NIFTY100 Alpha 30NIFTY Alpha 50NIFTY Dividend Opportunities 50NIFTY High Beta 50NIFTY Low Volatility 50NIFTY200 Quality 30NIFTY 500 Value 50NIFTY 100 Quality 30SECTORSAgricultureAirlinesAluminiumAsset Management CompaniesAutomobilesAuto AncillariesBanks (Private)Banks (PSU)BankingCementChemicalsDefenceDiagnosticsDronesEngineeringElectric VehicleElectric Vehicle BatteryEnergy SourcesESGEthanolFertilizersFintechFMCGFoodGreen HydrogenHotelsInfrastructureInsuranceInvestment and FinanceInvITIT (Large)IT (Others)LogisticsMediaMetalMiningIndia's Big Tech StocksIndian PharmaMNC PharmaPSUPaintPaperPlasticPowerRating AgenciesReal EstateREITsRenewable EnergyRetailingSemiconductorShippingSteelSugarSupply ChainTelecomTextilesTravel Support Services

10 results 25 results 50 results 100 results All results

Indian Share Market Update: Top Gainers and Losers