Indian benchmark indices closed higher on Thursday, led by gains in index heavyweights such as RIL, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Titan, HCL Tech, M&M. The market witnessed lackluster trade, undermining strong cues from global peers, as gains in energy and IT indices were offset by losses in auto, power and realty space.
Snapping four sessions losing streak, the BSE Sensex closed 113 points or 0.2% higher at 57,901, and the NSE Nifty settled at 17,285, up 64.2 points or 0.37%. During the day’s trade, Sensex and Nifty gained as much as 0.9% each.
BSE Midcap, Smallcap indices buck trend
Bucking the trend, the broader markets witnessed a weak trend. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended 0.7% and 0.65% lower, respectively. The overall market breadth on the BSE also turned negative, with 1,927 stocks declining as against 1,634 advancing shares, while 129 remained unchanged.
Top gainers and losers
The top gainer on the BSE Sensex pack was Bajaj Finance, up 2.6% at ₹7,028.60, followed by Infosys (₹1,771.40, 2.19%), Titan Company (₹2,358.50, 1.52%), Reliance Industries (₹2,404.45, 1.35%), HCL Technologies (₹1,160.45,+1.11%), and others.
On the flip side, auto major Maruti Suzuki India topped the losers’ chart by falling 1.5% to ₹7,452.65. The other notable losers were ICICI Bank (₹741.30, -1.50%), Bajaj Auto (₹3,250, -1.44%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (₹764.45, -1.43%), and IndusInd Bank (₹929.55, -0.94%).
Among individual stocks, shares of Subros, a leading manufacturer of thermal products for automotive applications in India, surged 9% to hit an intraday high of ₹408.80 after it secured an order from Indian Railways for supply of coach air-conditioners (LHB-RMPU Type 1). Meanwhile, shares of asset management companies - HDFC Asset Management Company and Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC – touched their respective 52-week lows in intra-day trade.
Primary market update: Supriya Lifescience, HP Adhesives IPOs oversubscribed
On the initial public offer (IPO) front, shares of Supriya Lifescience received overwhelming response from investors, with offer fully subscribing in the first 90-odd minutes of bidding. The IPO of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturer was subscribed nearly 1.4 times on first day of bidding, with retail portion oversubscribed by 6.93 times. The offer attracted bids for 1.98 crore equity shares against the IPO size of 1.45 crore shares, at the time of reporting. The IPO, with a price band of ₹265-274 a share, includes fresh issue of equities worth ₹200 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to ₹500 crore by its promoter Satish Waman Wagh.
Meanwhile, IPO of HP Adhesives was subscribed 6.7 times on the second day of bidding, December 16. As per the latest exchange date, the issue received bids for 171 lakh equity shares against offer size of 25.28 lakh shares. The consumer adhesives and sealants company looks to raise ₹126 crore via its IPO at the upper end of the price band of ₹262-274 per equity share. The company has already raised ₹56.68 crore was raised from anchor investors on December 14.
Global markets cheer Fed’s decision
Asian stocks closed in green on Thursday, following positive finish at Wall Street in overnight trade after the U.S. Federal Reserve unveiled plan to end bond-buying stimulus in March next year. The central bank kept its interest rates unchanged, but signaled three interest rate hikes by the end of 2022 to tackle rising inflation.
Japan's Nikkei index was the biggest gainer in the regional market, rising 2.1%. China’s Shanghai Composite settled 0.75% higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2%. Taiwan’s benchmark index also gained 0.7%, and the Straits Times in Singapore ended 0.6% higher.
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