Bulls reign on 1st day of 2021; Sensex ends 118 points up at 47,869; PSBs gain

Amid thin-trading in Asia, Indian equities clinched fresh record highs in the intra-day session on Friday on sustained bullish momentum in the markets. Frontline S&P BSE Sensex nearly kissed the 48,000-mark when it hit a fresh lifetime high of 47,980 levels. Its NSE counterpart, Nifty50, on the other hand touched a new peak of 14,050.

The indices, however, climbed-off record highs and settled the day around 0.2 per cent higher. The Sensex index ended the day at 47,869 levels, up 118 points or 0.25 per cent. ITC (up 2.3 per cent), TCS, M&M, and State Bank of India (SBI) were the top index gainers, while ICICI Bank (down 1.3 per cent), HDFC Bank, and Titan were the top drags on the index.

The broader Nifty50 closed the day at fresh closing high, above the 14,000-mark, at 14,018.5 levels, up 37 points or 0.26 per cent.

Among individual stocks, shares of Antony Waste Handling Cell debuted at the bourses at Rs 430 apiece, commanding a 36 per cent premium against the issue price of Rs 315. At close, the stock erased gains and settled 5 per cent lower than the listing price, at Rs 408 per share. It was, however, still up around 30 per cent compared to the issue price.

Besides, auto stocks remained in focus on Friday as firms reported their December sales. Maruti Suzuki ended the day 0.5 per cent higher after it reported a 20 per cent YoY rise in December sales. Meanwhile, M&M’s total sales slipped 10 per cent; Escorts total sales grew 88 per cent YoY; and Ashok Leyland’s total sales improved by 14 per cent on a yearly basis. All the stocks settled higher in the range of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

Sectorally, largely all the NSE indices ended the day in the green barring Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, and Nifty Financial Services indices. On the upside, Nifty PSB index ended over 3 per cent higher.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap index ended the day 1.24 per cent and 0.9 per cent higher, respectively.

Chemcon Speciality gained 29% in 3 days after Plutus Wealth hiked stake. On Wednesday, December 30, 2020, Plutus Wealth Management LLP purchased 1 million equity shares, representing 2.7 per cent stake of Chemcon Speciality Chemicals, for Rs 43 crore on the NSE via bulk deal, the data shows. Plutus Wealth Management bought shares at price of Rs 428.52 per share. The names of the sellers were not ascertained immediately.

Shares of Rain Industries surged 15 per cent on Friday to hit a 52-week high of Rs 146 on the BSE after the company announced that its arm had completed sale of non-strategic subsidiaries for Rs 637 crore. The company said the consideration received from the sale of two subsidiaries will be utilized for repayment of debt and other general corporate needs.

Shares of NCC Limited rose 5 per cent on the BSE on Friday after the firm said it has received orders worth Rs 8,980 crore during the month of December. The scrip rose as much as 4.85 per cent to intraday high of Rs 60.45. It was trading close to its 52-week high level of Rs 61, scaled on January 16, 2020. The Hyderabad-based construction firm in a BSE filing, on Friday, said that it has won 15 new orders, totalling to Rs 8,980 crore, in the month of December.

Shares of Tips Industries hit a 20-year high of Rs 368, after rallying 16 per cent on the BSE on Friday after the company announced demerger plan of its film business. The stock of the movie & entertainment company was trading at its highest level since December 2000. It hit a record high of Rs 425.95 on December 13, 2000, data shows.

Shares of Escorts were trading 4 per cent higher at Rs 1,310 on the BSE in early morning trade on Friday after the company registered a strong 88 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in tractor sales at 7,733 units for the month of December. The tractor sales during the month were the company’s highest-ever for the month of December. The domestic tractor sales for December 2020 were at 7,230 units, registering a growth of 90 per cent, against 3,806 tractors sold in December 2019.

Shares of Antony Waste Handling Cell made a decent debut at the bourses on Friday with stock of the solid waste management services company listing at Rs 430, a 36.5 per cent premium against its issue price of Rs 315 per share on the BSE. By 10:07 AM, the stock had hit an intra-day high of Rs 492.75, up 56.4 per cent from the issue price.

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