Sensex Hits Fresh Record High; Healthcare and Metal Stocks Witness Buying

Wed, 18 Dec Closing

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Indian share markets witnessed huge buying interest during closing hours today and ended their day on a positive note. The Sensex hit fresh record high ahead of the GST Council meet scheduled today. The meet is to review the taxation structure for shoring up the revenue as lower-than-expected collections has led to a delay in compensation payment to states.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 206 points (up 0.5%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 59 points (up 0.5%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended down by 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 0.1%.

On the sectoral front, gains were seen in the healthcare sector and metal sector. Telecom sector and power sector, on the other hand, witnessed huge selling.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood up by 0.15% and the Nikkei was trading down by 0.55%, while the Shanghai Composite was trading down by 0.18%.

European markets were also trading on a mixed note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.21%. The DAX was trading down by 0.11%, while the CAC 40 was trading up by 0.19%.

The rupee was trading at 71.05 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Speaking of Indian share markets, in the video below, Rahul Shah talks about the one important chart all investors should see before making a big investment in 2020.

In the news from the IPO space, the initial public offering (IPO) of Prince Pipes and Fittings has been subscribed around 21% so far on the first day of the bidding process.

The public issue has received bids for 41.14 lakh equity shares against IPO size of 1.97 crore shares.

The reserved portion of retail investors was subscribed 40% and that of non-institutional investors 0.02%. The category set aside for qualified institutional buyers was not yet subscribed.

Prince Pipes and Fittings is one of India's leading pipe and fitting manufacturers.

It has 5% share in the organised market and was the sixth largest player in terms of sales at the end of FY19.

The offer is a combination of both fresh issue of shares and offer-for-sale (OFS). The proceeds will be utilised to repay partial debt and expand capacity at Rajasthan and Telangana plants.

The price band of the offer has been fixed at Rs 177-178. The bid lot consists of 84 shares and multiple thereof. The issue will close on 20 December (Friday).

Post issue, the promoters' holding in the company will come down to 65.8% from 90.1%.

How this IPO sails through remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more updates from this space.

Speaking of the Indian pipes and fittings industry, the chart below reveals one of the biggest reasons why this industry has a long growth story ahead...

A Big Opportunity Beyond the Current Slowdown

Here's what Ankit Shah wrote about it in a recent edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

• India has very low per-capita plastic consumption of about 11 kg, compared with the global average of 30 kg. Traditional materials dominate the application areas of plastic.
  
  However, over the past three to four years, low crude oil prices and superior properties of plastic have increased the usage of plastic in India. Hence, India's per-capita consumption is expected to increase towards the global average.
  
  Given this background, the IPO of Prince Pipes and Fittings looks interesting to me. I'm going to analyse this IPO and recommend my Insider readers whether to apply for it or not.

Ankit keeps a close watch on all the IPOs and picks all the profitable ones for his readers at Insider.

Moving on to the news from the banking sector, Bank of Baroda share price was in focus today as the lender said it has raised Rs 17.4 billion by issuing Basel III compliant bonds on a private placement basis.

The stock of the lender was also in focus as it underreported bad loans by Rs 52.5 billion for the financial year 2018-19, according to Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) risk assessment report.

In a filing to the stock exchanges yesterday, the public-sector lender said the divergence in gross non-performing assets (NPAs) assessed by the central bank stood at Rs 52.5 billion in FY19. The divergence in net NPAs was also Rs 52.5 billion for FY19.

Also, the divergence in provisioning for bad loans in FY19 was to the tune of Rs 40.9 billion. Of the Rs 40.9 billion divergence in provisions for NPAs, the bank had already made provision of Rs 14.7 billion during the current financial year which reduces the impact to Rs 26.1 billion.

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

And 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!

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