Sensex, Nifty Log Biggest Single-Day Gain In Over Six Months

India's stock benchmarks rose the most in a single-day since May 21, aided by gains in auto, banking, metal and information technology stocks, after RBI's rate-setting panel voted to keep policy rates unchanged and signalled commitment to support 'durable, strong, inclusive' recovery.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 1.76% to 58,649.68. The NSE Nifty 50 index also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,469.75. The 50-stock gauge reached within touching distance of 17,500 in intraday trade.

Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.4%. Bajaj Finance Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 3.6%.

The broader markets almost mirrored their larger peers with both the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap rising nearly 1.5%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Auto and S&P BSE Tech gaining over 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 2,328 stocks advanced, 951 declined and 132 remained unchanged.

"RBI kept accommodative stance with interest rate unchanged at 4% and reverse repo rate at 3.35% and will maintain this stance as long as necessary to revive and sustain growth, which gives a clear signal that RBI is giving a strong & durable support to the economy without downsizing any support which will be beneficial for the equity markets as well", Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities wrote in a note and added that the markets have given a stellar run up today giving a thumbs up to RBI's comments. "Despite record equity selling by FIIs, RBI has done well to defend the currency and made sure that imported inflation is under check. Immediate support and resistance for Nifty 50 is 17,200 and 17,700 and for Bank Nifty is 36,900 and 37,800."

Shares of Biocon Ltd. rose 7.7% to Rs 387.9 apiece after the company entered into a partnership with Tabuk Pharmaceutical to commercialise specific specialty products in the Middle East region.

Under the agreement, Tabuk Pharma will hold the marketing authorization for the products. The partnership is likely to pave the way for Biocon's expansion into MENA region.

• Gujarat State Petronet cut to 'accumulate' from 'buy' at Elara Securities India; price target at Rs 358

• Petronet LNG cut to 'accumulate' from 'buy' at Elara Securities India; price target at Rs 266

Source: Bloomberg

• Berger Paints raised to 'buy' from 'hold' at IDBI Capital Market; price target at Rs 870.

• Ramco Cements raised to 'buy' from 'add' at Axis Capital; price target at Rs 1,125.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of JBM Auto Ltd. rose over 6% in intraday trade to Rs 1,174 apiece after the company approved the proposal of sub-division of equity share having face value of Rs 5 each into equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each. The record date for the share split will be determined, subsequent to the approval of shareholders.

Shares of JBM Auto rose nearly 26% since the company announced on November 19 that the company's board will consider a stock split on December 8 in a meeting of board of directors.

The relative strength index on the stock was 74, suggesting it may be overbought.

• GAIL India has 1.26 million shares change hands in a bunched trade.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known.

Source: Bloomberg

• Indian bonds gain as traders read the central bank's decision to leave key rates unchanged as dovish. The rupee edged lower.

• 10-year yields fell by 4bps to 6.35% on Wednesday after RBI left the reverse repo rate unchanged.

• USD/INR up 0.1% to 75.4763

Source: Bloomberg

India's stock benchmarks advanced and are trading near session's high, aided by gains in information technology, metal, banking and auto stocks, as RBI's rate-setting committee voted to keep the benchmark repo and reverse repo rates unchanged.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 1.51% to 58,501.87. The NSE Nifty 50 index also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,427.95. ICICI Bank Ltd. contributed the most to index gain, rising 2.9% while Bajaj Finance Ltd. had the largest increase, gaining 3.0%. In mid-day trading, 46 out of the 50 shares rose, while four fell.

The broader indices almost mirrored their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap adding 1.2% and S&P BSE SmallCap rising 1.5%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced with S&P BSE Information Technology adding nearly 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 2,365 stocks advanced, 791 declined and 147 remained unchanged.

Shares of RattanIndia Enterprises Ltd. rose over 8.5% to Rs 51.2 apiece after Revolt Motors expanded its retail presence in Southern India with the opening of their new store in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. This is the company's third store in the state and 18th retail outlet in the country. Revolt Motors had opened its retail store in Madurai recently apart from its existing store in Chennai.

The RV400 comes with 3KW motor, powered by 72V, 3.24KWh Lithium-ion battery with a maximum speed capacity of 85 km per hour. The model features three riding modes, eco, normal and sport.

Trading volume on the stock was 2.6 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

• In certain key components like private investment and consumptions and a few other sectors, we are lagging behind

• Economy facing several headwinds emanating from mostly international factors

• We also have a surge in Covid infections in various economies

• In this background, the MPC judged to better be cautious

Deputy Governor Michael Patra

• Standing Deposit Facility will be used as liquidity management tool when needed

• We have chosen to use those which are time tested and market friendly such as auctions

• In SDF there will not be a transfer of securities

• At current time, RBI has several instruments at its arsenal

• Have used those tools that are time-tested and market-friendly

• SDF will not involve exchange of collateral, market participants may be reluctant to engage

Star Health and Allied Insurance Co.'s IPO that did not manage to get full subscription, raised less-than aimed Rs 6,400 crore ($848 million)

• The IPO was priced at Rs 900 per share.

• The company raised Rs 2000 crore as planned from sale of new shares.

• However, its shareholders sold Rs 4,400 crore of secondary shares in the IPO, compared to an earlier target of Rs 5,250 crore

• Star Health shares are scheduled to start trading on December 10.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. rose over 2.2%, the biggest intraday gain in eight sessions, to Rs 809.7 apiece, after the company received tentative approval from U.S. FDA for Selexipag tablets, 200 mcg, 400 mcg, 600 mcg, 800 mcg, 1,400 mcg and 1,600 mcg. The ANDA is equivalent to reference listed drug product Uptravi tablets of Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Selexipag tablets are indicated for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) to delay disease progression and reduce the risk of hospitalisation.

These tablets have an estimated market size of $461 million for 12 months ending September 2021, according to IQVIA.

Of the 18 analysts tracking the company, seven maintained 'buy', seven maintained 'hold' and four maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 5.7%.

• The bench was unhappy with the written arguments submitted today.

• The case came up today before the bench of Chief Justice of India Justice NV Ramana, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice AS Bopanna.

ABB India has partnered with Indore Smart City Development Ltd. to deploy digital technology to enable continuous supply of electricity to homes and business. So far, the technology has enabled over 2,300 connections to achieve 24/7 electricity supply with automatic response system.

• India must complete the migration from 2G to 4G to 5G at the earliest.

• Roll-out of 5G should be India’s national priority.

• India needs to ensure affordability not only of services, but also of devices and applications. Use USO fund for purposes other than services. USO fund can be used to subsidise devices to select target groups.

• Ubiquitous fibre connectivity should be completed across India on a mission mode.

• The Government is putting in place a sound regulatory and policy framework for this. Another candidate for radical transformation is India’s energy systems.

Source: India Mobile Congress

Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. launches Fosfor, a data-to-decisions product suit to help businesses monetise data at speed and scale by providing best-in-class capabilities.

The suite consists of five products ranging from comprehensive data operations product to a data science product to data processing and an augmented analytics tool with search-like interface.

Juniper Networks has been selected by Bharti Airtel to deliver network upgrades for the expansion of Airtel's nationwide broadband coverage across India.

In a press statement, Juniper Networks said that Airtel expanded its fibre-to-the-home broadband coverage to over 430 towns and planned to cover 30 million households in over 2,000 cities in the next three years.

Juniper sill supply, install and provide support for upgrades to the MX Series routers and line cards besides ensuring secure encryption across the network.

Longer-term India sovereign securities gained in Wednesday morning trading.

• The 3-year yield rose 1.6bps to 5.109%

• The 10-year yield fell 3bps to 6.361%

• The 14-year yield fell 2bps to 6.75%

• The 3-year-10-year yield spread was 125.2bps, vs previous close 129.7bps

JSW Energy has achieved a leadership band with 'A-' score in the 2021 CDP Climate Change assessment, the only Indian power generation company to achieve this level.

In an exchange filing, JSW Energy said that it was the only company from Indian and one of the only two from Asia with a score in the leadership band in climate change of the 48 company under the thermal power generation activity group/category.

Shares of SpiceJet Ltd. shed over 3.3% to Rs 66.15 apiece after Madras High Court ordered winding up of the airline on grounds that it failed to clear debt owed to Credit Suisse AG. The order by the single-judge bench of Justice R Subramanian directed the official liquidator to take over the assets of the airline for liquidation but granted a three-week stay at the request of the company to appeal against the order.

Of the 10 analysts tracking the company, one maintained 'buy', four maintained 'hold' and five maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 6.4%.

Shares of Zen Technologies Ltd. rose over 4%, the biggest intraday gain in two weeks, to Rs 217 apiece after the company's subsidiary, Unistring Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd. bagged an order worth Rs 61 crore from an Indian defence PSU.

Unistring's focus on developing electronic warfare and counter-drone technology led to this milestone order, Zen Technologies said in an exchange filing.

Trading volume on the stock was 3.5 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. rose over 2%, the biggest intraday gain in a week, to Rs 2,431.8 apiece after the company agreed to set up $2 billion joint venture for chemicals production with UAE's Ta'ziz.

• The project will enable the substitution of imports and creat new local value chains besides meeting growing demand for the chemicals globally, the company said in an exchange filing.

• Of the 38 analysts tracking the company, 22 maintained 'buy', 11 maintained 'hold' and five maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 12.4%.

India's stock benchmarks opened higher, aided by gains in banking, metal and energy stocks, after technology shares led U.S. equities to their biggest rally in nine months sparking a surge in Asian markets. Investors await RBI's policy decision to see whether it takes further steps toward policy normalisation, including a possible hike in reverse repo rate.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 1.13% to 58,282.82. This is the first time the 30-stock gauge rose above 58,000 in three sessions. The NSE Nifty 50 index also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,348.25. Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, adding 1.9%. ONGC had the largest increase, 2.8%. In early trading, 49 of the 50 shares rose, while 1 fell.

The broader indices almost mirrored their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap adding over 0.8%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced with S&P BSE Oil & Gas, Metal, Realty, Teck, Information Technology, Energy, banking and Telecom indices gaining over 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 1,957 stocks advanced, 390 declined and 79 remained unchanged.

• Tata Teleservices falls 5% in pre-market trade

• Tata Teleservices has 1.3 million shares change handsd in a pre-market trade.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known.

Source: Bloomberg

• Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company Ltd. entered into an agreement with Visiox Pharma LLC to grant exclusive worldwide right for the development and commercialisation of PDP-716 (ophthalmic suspension) and SDN-037 (ophthalmic solution of difluprednate).

• Under the terms of license agreement, SPARC will be eligible for upfront payment, milestone payments and royalty on sales, besides 10% equity in Visiox.

Source: Exchange Filing

JSW Steel reported crude steel production for the month of November at 1.46 million tonnes vs 1.33 million tonnes YoY (1.43 million tonnes MoM)

• November rolled products: flat at 0.99 million tonnes vs 0.96 million tonnes YoY (1.05 million tonnes MoM)

• November rolled products: long at 0.33 million tonnes vs 0.29 million tonnes YoY (0.33 million tonnes MoM)

Source: Exchange Filing

Indian traders will look forward to RBI's policy decision to see whether it takes further steps toward policy normalisation, including a possible hike in reverse repo rate.

• RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das to announce RBI policy at 10 a.m. in Mumbai.

• USD/INR little changed at 75.4312 on Tuesday.

• 10-year yields rose 3bps to 6.39% on Tuesday.

• Overseas investors sold Rs 2,580 crore of Indian stocks on Tuesday

• They sold Rs 3,740 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available for foreign investors, and withdrew Rs 113 crore of corporate debt.

• State-run banks bought Rs 3,230 crore of sovereign bonds on December 7L CCIL data. Foreign banks sold Rs 1,670 crore of bonds.

Source: Bloomberg

• Shree Cement cut to 'reduce' at Axis Capital; price target at Rs 26,600

• ACC raised to 'buy' from 'add' at Axis Capital; price target at Rs 2,800

• Ambuja Cements cut to 'reduce' from 'add' at Axis Capital; price target at Rs 375

Source: Bloomberg

• Barbeque nation: Motilal Oswal Securities initiates coverage with 'neutral' recommendation; price target at Rs 1,560.

• Barbeque nation: Investec initiates coverage with 'buy' recommendation; price target at Rs 1,674.

• Devyani International: Motilal Oswal Securities initiates coverage with 'buy' recommendation; price target at Rs 190.

Source: Bloomberg

India's Monetary Policy Committee concluded its fifth meeting of the financial year on Wednesday. The panel, headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, will announce its decision at 10 a.m.

All the 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the MPC to leave the repo rate unchanged at 4%. A majority had expected the reverse repo rate to be held steady at 3.35% as well.

Asian stocks opened higher after technology shares led U.S. equities to their biggest rally in nine months as traders bet the Omicron Covid variant won’t stall the global recovery. Treasury yields pared an advance.

Equity benchmarks rose in Japan, South Korea and Australia. U.S. futures edged higher after both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 chalked their biggest gains since March.

India's SGX Nifty 50 index futures for December delivery rose 0.7% to 17,326.50, while MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.6%. The NSE Nifty 50 gained 1.6% on Tuesday to 1,716.70.

Treasury yields increased across the curve on Tuesday, with the two-year yield at the highest since March 2020 and the 10-year yield moving back toward 1.5%. The dollar held a decline against many of its major peers.

Crude held most of its gain after surging past $72 a barrel in New York. Bitcoin climbed back above $50,000.

Back home, foreign investors sold net Rs 2,990 crore of stocks on Monday, according to NSDL website.

Stocks To Watch

SpiceJet: The Madras High Court has ordered winding up of the airline on grounds that it failed to clear debt owed to Credit Suisse AG. The order by the single-judge bench of Justice R Subramanian directed the official liquidator to take over the assets of the airline for liquidation but granted a three-week stay at the request of the company to appeal against the order.

Reliance Industries: To set up a $2-billion joint venture for chemicals production with the U.A.E.’s Ta’ziz.

Coal India: India's coal production increased 10.35% over the corresponding period in 2019 to 67.84 million tonnes in November.

NHPC: Approved proposal for monetisation by securitisation through bidding process of return on equity of Chamera-1 Power Station, Himachal Pradesh and to further monetise the return on equity of one or more power stations.