Sensex, Nifty set to open higher; Supriya Lifescience, HDFC Bank, RBL Bank, Vedanta in focus

Indian benchmark indices, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are likely to continue gaining streak on Tuesday, following firm cues from global peers. The positive trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a gap-up opening for the Indian equities, with SGX Nifty futures trading 15.25 points, or 0.09%, higher at 17,267 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:20 AM.

On Monday, Indian benchmark indices ended higher on the back of buying in select pharma, finance and IT stocks. The BSE Sensex ended 296 points, or 0.52%, higher at 57,420, and the NSE Nifty surged 82.5 points, or 0.49%, to 17,086. In line with the benchmark indices, the broader markets also settled higher. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap and the S&P BSE Small-Cap indices rose 0.27% and 0.52%, respectively. The overall market breadth on the BSE was negative, with 2,272 stocks advancing as against 1,433 declining shares, while 174 remained unchanged. Tech Mahindra, an information technology services and consulting company, topped the BSE Sensex gainers’ chart by rising 3.57%. Some of the other notable gainers were Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Power Grid Corporation, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.

Individual companies that will be in focus on Tuesday include Supriya Lifescience, HDFC Bank, Sastasundar Ventures, RBL Bank, Vedanta, Axis Bank, and Siemens.

Supriya Lifescience: The active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturer will list its shares on the domestic bourses today. The stock is expected to list at premium following strong response to its ₹700 crore IPO. The company sold its share in the range of ₹265-274 apiece.

HDFC Bank: The private sector lender has teamed up with India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to offer its banking services in semi-urban and rural areas.

Sastasundar Ventures: Ace Investor Ashish Kacholia has purchased 2.25 lakh equity shares in the company at ₹447 per share. Meanwhile, Microsec Vision Trust One offloaded 2.25 lakh shares at the same price, the exchange data showed.

RBL Bank: The Reserve Bank of Indian on Monday assured investors and depositors that the bank is financially stable. The stock ended 18% lower on Monday after its CEO Vishwavir Ahuja went on leave and the Reserve Bank of India appointed Yogesh Dayal to the board of the RBL Bank.

Axis Bank: The private sector lender has received approval from the RBI for the re-designation of Rajiv Anand as the Deputy Managing Director till August 3, 2022.

Vedanta: The Committee of Directors of the company on Monday approved issuing of non‐convertible debentures (NCDs) of face value ₹10 lakh each aggregating up to ₹1,000 crore.

Siemens: A joint venture between TRIL Urban Transport, a Tata Group company, and Siemens Project Ventures GmbH, a subsidiary of Siemens Financial Services, has secured a contract to develop the metro corridor from Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar, Pune.

Here are key things investors should know before the market opens today:

Japan’s Nikkei leads Asian trade

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region traded mostly higher, barring China and Hong Kong, following a strong finish at Wall Street in overnight trade. The renewed optimism about the global economic recovery overshadowed fear about coronavirus and tighter monetary policy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was the best performer in the regional market by rising nearly 1%. Nikkei was followed by Taiwan Weighted Index, which surged 0.6%.

In a similar trend, the Straits Times Index in Singapore rose 0.5%, South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.1%, and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite surged 0.4%.

Bucking the trend, China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.4%.

U.S. stocks end higher on retail sales cheer

On Wall Street, all the three major U.S. indices closed higher on Monday as investors cheered strong retail sales data. The strong macro data calmed investors worried about Omicron-led flight cancelations that hammered stocks in the travel sector. The U.S. retail sales grew at an annual rate of 8.5% during this year's holiday shopping season from November 1 to December 24, according to a report by Mastercard Inc MA.N.

The S&P 500 surged 1.4%, extending the rally for the fourth consecutive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite ended 1.4% higher in overnight trade.

Oil prices rise as Omicron concern eases

Crude oil prices rebounded on Tuesday amid hopes that the Omicron variant will have a limited impact on global fuel demand in 2022. The U.S. crude had come under pressure on Monday following cancelation of thousands of flights in the United States over the Christmas holidays in wake of rising Omicron infections.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude oil futures for February were up 0.2% at $75.72 a barrel during early Asian trading hours. The Brent oil futures traded 0.13% higher at $78.70 per barrel.

In the overnight trade, global benchmark Brent crude ended 3.2% higher at $78.60 per barrel, and the U.S. WTI crude climbed 2.4% to $75.57 per barrel.

FIIs remain net sellers, DIIs turn net buyers

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the Indian equity market on December 24, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) emerged as net buyers. As per data available on the NSE, FIIs net sold shares worth ₹1,038.25 crore, while DIIs net bought shares worth ₹955.79 crore.