Tata Steel Expands Capacity; Shakti Pumps Wins Rs 443 Cr Maharashtra Order

The Indian stock market started the day with a good vibe, as the Sensex increased by more than 350 points and the Nifty was around 25,900. The increase in prices of banks, IT, and automobile sectors was the main reason for the rise in the market. On the contrary, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, and Titan Company, which are all part of the blue-chip stocks, faced some selling pressure. Meanwhile, the BSE midcap and smallcap segments declared slight gains, whereas the oil & gas sector did not show much activity.

At 1 PM, the Sensex was at 84,745.39, which was a gain of 354.12 points or 0.42 percent. The Nifty 50 had a figure of 25,880.20, thus, gaining 122.20 points or 0.47 percent. The market breadth was in favor of the bulls as there were 2,167 shares that went up, 1,494 that went down, and 152 that remained unchanged.

Main Participants: The intraday increase was mainly caused by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eternal, Jio Financial, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and Maruti Suzuki. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Titan Company, Interglobe Aviation, and HDFC Life on the contrary, lowered the indices.

Corporate News:

Lloyds Metals & Energy: Its 100% owned, subsidiary Lloyds Global Resources FZCO, has been granted board approval to purchase a 50% stake in Nexus Holdco FZCO for a maximum of $55 million. Nexus has controlling interests in mining and copper processing projects located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The company also entered into a non-binding MoU with Tata Steel to investigate cooperation in raw materials and steel production. The stock price decreased by 0.71% to Rs 1,272.55.

Tata Steel: The board has sanctioned a 4.8 MTPA expansion at Neelachal Ispat Nigam and a 0.7 MTPA Hot Rolled Pickling and Galvanizing Line at Tarapur. The company has also acquired 50.01% in Thriveni Pellets for a consideration of Rs 636 crore. The stock price increased by 1.48% to Rs 164.60.

Shakti Pumps: The company has bagged Maharashtra state order for 16,025 off-grid solar pumps under PM Kusum B scheme with a value of Rs 443.78 crore and the delivery period of 60 day payment. The stocks surged by 7.31% to Rs 591.25.

DCM Shriram and Bayer Crop Science, a pact was signed for the purpose of putting into practice the transfer of technology and sustainable farming practices in India. As a result, the share price increased by 7.47% to Rs 1,297.00.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals: USFDA gave the nod for Loteprednol Etabonate and Tobramycin Ophthalmic Suspension. The stock price at Rs 891.20, up by 0.57%.

Nephrocare Health Services IPO: The second day of the subscription was 0.29 times, with retail at 0.34 times and QIB at 0.30 times.

Park Medi World IPO: The overall subscription was 0.75 times; the NII demand was met 1.0 times.

Suven Life Sciences: The company has enrolled all required patients for Phase-2b trial of Ropanicant for Major Depressive Disorder, surpassing their schedule. The share price is Rs 169.40.

SEAMEC: The company has won a subcontract from ONGC for subsea installation and pipeline replacement worth USD 16.72 million; shares rose by 2.79% to Rs 1,041.75.

The FOMC reduced US rates by 25 bps to 3.50-3.75% due to softening labor markets. The investors foresee moderate relief for the emerging markets besides positive cues for gold and silver. The precious metals were pushed higher after silver hit new highs. Hindustan Zinc's stock increased by 4%, while Vedanta's rose by 2%.

The inflow to equity mutual funds grew 21% MoM in November to Rs 29,911 crore, indicating wider participation after months of weak inflows.

In terms of currency, the Indian rupee was on the weaker side, trading at 90.33 against the dollar; it fell by 36 paise.

Sectoral Performance:

The auto index went up by 0.94% led by Sona BLW (+3.47%), Motherson (+3.27%), Bharat Forge (+1.69%), Ashok Leyland (+1.65%), and Maruti Suzuki (+1.51%).

The metal index continued its upward trend with Hindustan Zinc (+3.39%), NALCO (+1.5%), Tata Steel (+1.36%), and Vedanta (+1.24%).

All BSE sectoral indices apart from oil and gas closed with positive gains, with the auto, metals, realty, and healthcare exhibiting the strongest performance.

Other Key Highlights:

Tata Motors' CV shares were exchanged in a block deal with a volume of 2.5 million shares at Rs 378.75 price.

Bajaj Housing Finance saw the trading of 2.2 million shares in a block at Rs 96.00.

HG Infra together with Kalpataru Projects JV has been awarded LOA for construction of 20.527 km metro viaduct in Thane.

State Bank of India gets the green light from Reserve Bank of India to establish a Section 8 company dedicated to Digital Payments Intelligence Platform.

SEPC has amicably settled the arbitration with Hindustan Copper and got Rs 30.45 crore as a settlement sum.

Market analysts foresee the present market decline as a short-lived phenomenon and recommend investing in large-cap and mid-cap quality stocks selectively. The cautious tone from the Fed suggests only a limited global rate cut in the near term while domestic IPO supply and past earnings growth deceleration continue to be factors depressing market sentiment.