Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research- Derivatives at Kotak Securities:
Markets have crossed a significant barrier of 17800 and managed to close above the same. I believe from an uncertain/volatile environment Nifty is now headed for a directional move.
We expect 19000-19500 levels in the medium term. Overall participation is expected to take place– value is seen in Metals, Energy, FMCG, and Banking stocks; IT stocks can be bought on correction post recent run-up.
Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities:
Index closed the day on a positive note for consecutive fourth session at 17925 with nearly one percent and formed a bullish candle on the daily chart.
Now index has reached near its good hurdle of 18000-18100 zone where one can look for trimming their long position, also if managed to sustain above said resistance we may see fresh breakout & then we may inch towards previous swing high.
On the other hand good support zone is formed near 17800-17700 zone and any dip near mentioned support zone will be again fresh buying opportunity.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.:
In a highly volatile session, the domestic market witnessed a recovery following a mild dip though the global sentiments were not in favour of bulls. Increasing covid cases leading to stricter restrictions has pressurised market volatility.
The banking sector outshone other sectoral indices as few private lenders reported double-digit business growth during the third quarter.
IT stocks took a blow as investors awaited the onset of the quarterly results season. US and Asian markets traded weak ahead of the release of the US Fed meeting minutes while European indexes held ground.
Market Close:
Benchmark indices ended higher for the fourth consecutive session on January 5 led by auto, bank, metal, realty and oil & gas stocks.
At close, the Sensex was up 367.22 points or 0.61% at 60,223.15, and the Nifty was up 120 points or 0.67% at 17,925.30. About 1649 shares have advanced, 1495 shares declined, and 74 shares are unchanged.
Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel and Grasim Industries were among the top Nifty gainers, however losers included Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Divis Labs and Wipro
Except IT, pharma and power all other sectoral indices ended in the green with auto, bank, metal, realty and oil & gas indices up 1-2 percent. The BSE midcap index added 0.36 percent, while smallcap index ended on flat note.
BSE Realty index rose 1 percent supported by the Sunteck Realty, Oberoi Realty, DLF
Jefferies on ICICI Bank
Jefferies maintained buy on ICICI Bank call with target at Rs 1,000 per share. The recent correction offers a good entry price.
The next leg of structural rerating will come with narrowing of RoE gap with HDFC Bank and next leg of rerating to be led by upside in margin and/or lower credit costs.
The bank remains among our top picks, said Jefferies.
ICICI Bank was quoting at Rs 788.25, up Rs 15.35, or 1.99 percent.
Nifty PSU Bank index rose 1 percent led by the Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Canara Bank
Goldman Sachs keeps buy on Bandhan Bank
Foreign research house Goldman Sachs has kept buy call on Bandhan Bank with a target at Rs 440 per share.
The preliminary Q3 business update shows AUM growth of 11% YoY versus our estimate of 10%, said Goldman Sachs.
The improvement in collection efficiencies to 91% in MFI business is a key positive in Q3. However, adjusting for NPLs, overall collections on standard portfolio may potentially improve to 96-97%, it added.
Bandhan Bank was quoting at Rs 261.05, up Rs 6.80, or 2.67 percent.
Market at 3 PM
Benchmark indices were trading near the day's high with Sensex above 60000 level.
The Sensex was up 406.35 points or 0.68% at 60262.28, and the Nifty was up 124.50 points or 0.70% at 17929.80. About 1636 shares have advanced, 1494 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged.
Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, Capitalvia Global Research:
After a cautious start today, Indian equity benchmarks were trading around day highs, with the Sensex and Nifty both in positive territory. Traders are more hopeful with the RBI's decision to keep the reverse repo rate unchanged in the next policy amid an increase of Corona cases in India.
The Indian market is gaining strength as a result of the Federal Reserve's hawkish move to enhance economic growth.
Our research suggests that 60000 may act as an important psychological level in the market. Sustaining above this level can leads to a higher level of 60500. Technical indicators also support positivity in the market.
European Markets Updates
Market update at 2 PM: Sensex is up 422.55 points or 0.71% at 60278.48, and the Nifty jumped 119.30 points or 0.67% at 17924.60.
Nelco bags contract from ONGC:
Nelco announced about their contract for turnkey project from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) worth more than Rs 40 crore, company said in its release.
The scope of the project entails supply, commission, and maintenance of ONGC’s captive very small aperture terminal (VSAT) based network. This network will be used to enhance the communication infrastructure of ONGC’s Western India offshore sites, it added.
NELCO was quoting at Rs 730, up Rs 15.05, or 2.11 percent on the BSE.
IndusInd Bank Q3 business update:
IndusInd Bank Q3 net advances rose 3% QoQ at Rs 2,28,128 crore against Rs 2,20,808 crore. The deposits were 3% at Rs 2,84,835 crore against Rs 2,75,473 crore, QoQ.
IndusInd Bank was quoting at Rs 905.65, up Rs 1.45, or 0.16 percent on the BSE.
BSE Oil & Gas index rose 1 percent led by the HPCL, Gail India, IOC
HFCL joins hands with Aprecomm:
HFCL has announced powering its network offerings with Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Analytics, partnering with Aprecomm, the leading AI-powered Wi-Fi analytics technology provider.
HFCL was quoting at Rs 86.35, up Rs 7.25, or 9.17 percent on the BSE.
Buzzing
AU Small Finance Bank share price jumped over 6 percent on January 5 with the stock gaining over 15 percent in the last five days.
Global research and broking firm Morgan Stanley has an ‘overweight’ call on the stock with a target at Rs 1,500 per share, an upside of over 28 percent from the current level.
The research firm is of the view that the third quarter AUM growth was strong helped by a 36 percent on-year growth in disbursements, adding that collection efficiency remains strong with no restructuring during the period.
Rahul Bajoria, Chief India Economist
India’s services PMI (seasonally adjusted) moderated but stayed comfortably above 50 for December, coming in at 55.5 - though lower than the decadal high of 58.4 and 58.1 registered during October and November, respectively.
The ongoing expansion likely signals resilience in domestic demand, supported by the festive season. The December services survey was conducted during 6-21 December, before COVID cases started rising in India. As a result, the PMI may moderate further in the coming months.
The services PMI was supported by healthy growth in new business orders. Despite the strong rise in new orders, firms reported a slight decline in new hires, indicating the availability of excess capacity. Exports remain weak, as travel restrictions likely weighed on foreign demand. Pricing pressures also remained high, though there was some moderation from the elevated levels seen in November. Business confidence improved slightly, though remains subdued compared with historical standards.
Market at 1 PM
Benchmark indices extended the gains and trading at day's high with Nifty above 17900.
The Sensex was up 346.72 points or 0.58% at 60202.65, and the Nifty was up 104.50 points or 0.59% at 17909.80. About 1709 shares have advanced, 1386 shares declined, and 75 shares are unchanged.
Nifty Auto index added 1 percent led by the Ashok Leyland, M&M, Bajaj Auto
Prathamesh Mallya, AVP- Research, Non-Agri Commodities and Currencies, Angel One:
On Tuesday, Spot Gold rose over 0.7 percent to close at $1814.6 per ounce. Gold prices scaled higher as a weaker US Dollar and surge in the Omicron variant cases around the globe shifted investors towards the safe haven asset.
However, boost in markets risk appetite, increasing Oil prices and higher bond yields kept the gains for Gold in check.
In 2021, Gold recorded its first annual decline in three years as recovery in global economies and major central banks moving towards a hawkish approach shifted investors away from the safe haven asset.
Gold prices in the international markets have registered a fall of 6 percent while MCX futures have declined by around 4.5 percent in the year gone by.
Increasing bets towards an early rate hike by the US Federal Reserve might over shadow worries over the surge in virus infected cases across borders and pressure Gold in todays session.
Nifty Metal index rose 1 percent supported by the Jindal Steel, JSW Steel, APL Apollo
Market at 12 PM
Benchmark indices were trading at day's high level with Nifty around 17800 and Sensex around 60000 level.
The Sensex was up 138.60 points or 0.23% at 59994.53, and the Nifty was up 41.20 points or 0.23% at 17846.50. About 1603 shares have advanced, 1468 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged.
Buzzing:
Shares of Bajaj Finance Ltd rose more than 2 percent on January 5 after the non-banking finance company (NBFC) posted a 26.3 percent jump in the assets under management in the third quarter of FY22 ended December 31.
The assets under management of the company rose to Rs 181,300 crore in Q3FY22 from Rs 143,550 crore in the year-ago period, the NBFC said. The company booked 7.4 million new loans in the December quarter, up from 6 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
Consolidated liquidity surplus stood at approximately Rs 14,300 crore as of December 31, 2021, Bajaj Finance said in the quarterly update.
Amit Pabari, MD at CR Forex Advisors
The strength in the rupee was finally interrupted as the US dollar was lifted by rising US 10-year Treasury yields which rose yesterday up to 1.68% indicating the expectations of Hawkish Fed and stronger economic growth despite the rising Omicron cases.
The prospect of three rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year is finally creating demand for the dollar while on the flip side, the rupee has strengthened enough in the past few days and is up for a reversal. USDINR is likely to trade between the range of 74.30-74.80 today.
Domestically, there has been growing expectations that RBI will not hike the reverse repo rate in the upcoming policy meet and tighten liquidity measures as the rise of Omicron cases could affect business activity. This could be one of the reasons for the rupee to weaken against the dollar in the near term.
Besides, consistently widening trade deficit and oil prices supported by the OPEC decision will likely keep the rupee under pressure. On the data front, Fed’s December meeting minutes and the release of US non-farm payrolls data will be keenly watched for the momentum in the dollar this week. Overall, we expect that the downside in the USDINR pair might be over near 74.10-30 and the pair will move upside towards 75.20.
Just in
Ramesh Damani has bought 1.26 percent stake in Panama Petro in Q3. The stock was trading atRs 286.10, up Rs 29.25, or 11.39 percent. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 295.10 and an intraday low of Rs 252.95.
Most active stocks on NSE in terms of volumes
Emkay Global Financial Services on HDFC Bank
: The stock has underperformed by its own standards as well as that of the peers after the management change, more so due to the RBI's embargo on its card/digital initiatives and Covid-induced growth/asset-quality disruption. The risk of fresh Covid wave-induced lockdowns could once again disrupt business/asset-quality normalization. However, we believe that the bank has built reasonable Covid buffers (0.8% of loans) and should be relatively resilient.
After the recent correction, the stock is trading at a reasonable valuation (2.9x FY23/2.5x FY24 ABV). We have a buy rating on HDFC Bank with a target of Rs 2,050, given its proven track record in managing asset quality across cycles, strong franchise/capital profile, and the ability to deliver superior return ratios.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway makes over $120 billion from Apple’s $3 trillion stock stint: Report
Tech stocks averse Warren Buffett’s big bet on Apple has paid off as the iPhone makers’ brief $3 trillion milestone raked in over $120 billion for the Oracle of Omaha.
Berkshire Hathaway’s 5 percent stake in Apple, bought for $36 billion in 2016, is now worth $160 billion after the stock high, CNBC reported. Further, the average annual dividend from Apple is around $775 million, it added.
The 5 percent stake also comprises over 40 percent of Berkshire Hathaway’s equity portfolio, as per InsiderScore.com calculations. Berkshire is now Apple’s largest shareholder besides index and exchange-traded fund providers, it said.
Market at 11 AM
Benchmark indices were trading flat amid volatility with Nifty around 17800.
The Sensex was up 13.09 points or 0.02% at 59869.02, and the Nifty was up 6.50 points or 0.04% at 17811.80. About 1567 shares have advanced, 1464 shares declined, and 70 shares are unchanged.
Force Motors December auto sales:
Force Motors' total sales rose 46 percent at 1,657 units in the month of December 2021 against 1,134 units in November 2021.
Force Motors was quoting at Rs 1,264.75, up Rs 16.15, or 1.29 percent on the BSE
Services sector PMI at 3-month low
Indian services companies continued to report growth of sales and business activity in December, albeit at a slower pace due to the spreading Omicron variant.
According to the monthly IHS Markit India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey released on January 5, services PMI stood at 55.5, down from 58.1 in November. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction. Click to Read More
Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, Capitalvia Global Research:
The Indian Benchmarks made a cautious start, owing to mixed global cues and an increase in Corona virus infections around the world. Traders may focus on data that the country's export shipments are expected to exceed USD 400 billion this fiscal year, according to reports.
Textile industry stocks will be in focus as The Union Minister said the government is making efforts towards gaining access to new markets and getting concessional duties on textile products through free- trade agreements.
Some respite may come in the market as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,273,86 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net purchase shares worth Rs 532.97 crore in the Indian equity market.
Our research suggests that sustaining above the level of 17600-17700 is important levels to stay positive in the market. If the market sustained the level of 17600-17700, we can expect it to trade till the level of 18000. If market unable to sustain the levels of 17600-17700, it may trade till the lower range of 17300-17500.
Buzzing
Macrotech Developers' UK projects clocked record sales of £191 million (Rs 1,900 crore) in the quarter (Q3FY22). “We believe that MDL’s investment in the UK will be significantly repatriated back to India in FY 23,” Macrotech Developers said in a release.
In the previous quarter (Q2FY22), Grosvenor Square, London (GSQ) development had £110 million (Rs 1,100 crore) of pre-sales following the relaxation of restriction on international travel.
Macrotech Developers was quoting at Rs 1,263.45, up Rs 29.85, or 2.42 percent.
Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments:
17800-17950 is a resistance patch for the Nifty. One should not add fresh positions here, in fact traders holding long positions on the index can lighten up a bit and buy lower if there is a dip or intraday correction.
If we get past this zone, the next target for the Nifty would be 18200.
Market at 10 AM
Benchmark indices were trading higher in the volatile session with Nifty holding above 17800.
The Sensex was up 116.59 points or 0.19% at 59972.52, and the Nifty was up 32.70 points or 0.18% at 17838. About 1550 shares have advanced, 1358 shares declined, and 81 shares are unchanged.
BSE Bankex index rose 1 percent led by the AU Small Finance Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank
Crude Updates:
Oil prices fell on Wednesday as rising fuel stockpiles in the United States raised concerns of declining demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer amid a massive spike in COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant.
U.S. gasoline stockpiles rose by 7.1 million barrels in the week to December 31, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported late on Tuesday. Distillate stockpiles climbed by 4.4 million barrels in the week.
Nifty IT index fell 1 percent dragged by the HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis
Bharti Airtel enters in JV with Hughes
Hughes Communications India Pvt Ltd, (HCIPL) and Bharti Airtel announced the formation of a joint venture to provide satellite broadband services in India.
The agreement, announced in May 2019, has received all statutory approvals, including those from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and Department of Telecom (Government of India) and the joint venture has been formed.
Bharti Airtel was quoting at Rs 694.60, down Rs 2.60, or 0.37 percent on the BSE.
Gainers and Losers on the BSE Sensex in the early trade:
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services:
The Dow setting a new all time new high when the number of daily Omicron cases crossed 1 million in the US might appear as a paradox, but, this is a clear message from the market that the fast spreading less virulent variant of the virus marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic. Also, most countries are not imposing fresh restrictions impacting economic activity.
In India there are clear trends from the market: FIIs are back as buyers having bought for 3 days consecutively and the buy amount is rising (Rs 1274 crore yesterday). This will be fodder for the bulls.
More importantly, news on bank credit growth is promising. So, bulls tightening their grip on banking stocks and bears running for cover may lead to smart rebound in leading banks, particularly private sector banks in which FIIs were large sellers.
Market Opens:
Indian indices opened on flat note on January 5 amid mixed global cues.
The Sensex was down 24.28 points or 0.04% at 59831.65, and the Nifty was down 7.00 points or 0.04% at 17798.30. About 1374 shares have advanced, 843 shares declined, and 96 shares are unchanged.
Bajaj Finance, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Maruti Suzuki, M&M and Axis Bank were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were HCL Technologies, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Wipro.
Market at pre-open:
Benchmark indices are trading flat in the pre-opening session amid mixed global cues.
At 09:02 IST, the Sensex was up 51.92 points or 0.09% at 59907.85, and the Nifty was down 1.50 points or 0.01% at 17803.80.
ICICI Direct
Indian markets are likely to open lower on the back of mixed global cues as caution prevailed among investors globally about increasing cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
US markets ended higher amid news indicating that the Omicron variant causes mild symptoms leading to an optimistic economic outlook.
