Equity benchmarks clock record closing highs

Equities touched all-time highs on Monday, starting the last week of the calendar year on a positive note, with the benchmark Nifty rallying 123.95 points (0.90%) to close at 13,873.2. The Sensex rallied by 380.21 points (0.81%) to close at 47,353.75. The markets rallied on account of strong global cues.

Investor wealth jumped Rs 8.22 lakh crore in four trading sessions. Among the BSE sectoral indices, realty rose 2.65%, metal 2.25%, consumer durables 2.19%, industrials 1.76% and banks 1.5%. In the broader market, the smallcap and midcap indices gained up to 1.49%.

The benchmark indices so far in December closed at record highs for 13 out of 19 trading sessions. Foreign portfolio investors remained buyers on Monday and bought stocks worth $211.8 million, according to provisional data on the exchanges. Domestic institutional investors sold stocks worth $184.8 million. FPIs so far in December have pumped in $5.9 billion. They have remained buyers in the Indian equity markets since September. Stock markets globally rallied after the US markets traded in the green overnight. The markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan were up between 0.02% and 1.02%. Similarly, markets in the UK, France and Germany gained between 0.10% and 1.52% in early trade.

Markets were propelled higher after President Donald Trump signed a $900-billion economic aid package. Markets also reacted positively to the Brexit trade deal. Deepak Jasani, head – retail research, HDFC Securities, said: “European markets rose at the start of the last trading week of 2020, as traders reacted to Brexit developments and President Donald Trump signing a $900-billion Covid-19 relief Bill into law.”

Tata Motors, which has a strong presence in the UK, rallied 5.7% during on Monday after clarity emerged over the Brexit trade deal with the European Union.
In its report, Kotak Institutional Equities said, “Economic recovery continues with cases falling. The number of new cases continued to fall and the test-positive rate also fell below 3%.” The brokerage said there had been an improvement in a number of economic indicators that it had been tracking such as electricity consumption and car as well as two-wheeler registrations, among others.

The futures and options segment on the NSE saw a turnover worth Rs 16.39 lakh crore while the cash market segment witnessed turnover of Rs 47,895.19 crore. Major gainers on the Nifty were JSW Steel, Tata Motors, SBI, Titan and SBI Life, up by 5.83%, 5.71%, 3.34%, 3.22% and 3.21%. Significant losers were Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Cipla, Shree Cement and Britannia, down by 0.43%, 0.4%, 0.39%, 0.34% and 0.33%.