Closing Bell: Nifty above 23,700, Sensex rises 368 pts; auto stocks rally

The Indian equity markets started the new calendar year on a positive note as the benchmark indices ended higher on January 1, with the Nifty closing near 23,750 amid buying seen across the sectors barring metal and realty names. At close, the Sensex was up 368.40 points or 0.47 percent at 78,507.41, and the Nifty was up 98.10 points or 0.41 percent at 23,742.90.

We wrap up today's edition of the Moneycontrol live market blog, and will be back tomorrow morning with all the latest updates and alerts. Please visit https://www.moneycontrol.com/markets/global-indices for all the global market action.

The markets began the calendar year on a positive note, gaining nearly half a percent. After an initial decline, buying interest in select heavyweight stocks across sectors quickly erased losses, gradually pushing the index higher. As a result, the Nifty reclaimed its long-term moving average, the 200 DEMA, and ended at 23,742.90. Most sectors contributed to this recovery, with auto and energy emerging as top performers. Similarly, the broader indices followed suit, recording gains ranging from 0.4% to 1.05%.

The index has now entered its second week of consolidation, and current indicators suggest that this trend is likely to persist. We continue to advocate a stock-specific strategy, focusing on counters exhibiting relatively stronger momentum. Besides pharma and healthcare, selective opportunities are emerging in the FMCG and energy sectors, so traders should position themselves accordingly.

The market started on a positive note on the first day of 2025. The recovery was broad-based, while the sustainability of the trend will depend on the earnings growth in Q3, where the expectation is positive on a QoQ basis. An uptick in core sector data and prospect of ramp-up in capex spending by the government in the remaining part of the fiscal aided sectors like capital goods, industrials, auto, and power.

Indian equities began the new year on a subdued note. Although initially it was trading lower, the Auto sector and selected other stocks helped lift the overall market. With continued momentum, the Index managed to compound its gains to end the session at 23,742.90 with gains of 98.10 points.

Sector wise, Auto emerged as the top performer, while Realty saw the most significant correction. In the broader market, Midcaps moved in-line with the Frontline Index, while Smallcaps showed a better performance.

The positive divergence in the RSI played well and for the reversal to gain further strength, the Index needs to surpass the resistance zone between 23,850-23,900, where the 200-day moving average (DMA) lies. On the downside, the support seems to be at the 23,560 levels.

Indian rupee ended marginally lower at 85.64 per dollar on Wednesday versus Tuesday's close of 85.60.

Indian equity indices ended on strong note with Nifty above 23,700 on January 1.

At close, the Sensex was up 368.40 points or 0.47 percent at 78,507.41, and the Nifty was up 98.10 points or 0.41 percent at 23,742.90. About 2642 shares advanced, 1177 shares declined, and 83 shares unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Bajaj Finance, L&T, Eicher Motors were among the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco Industries, Adani Ports, ONGC, Tata Steel.

Except realty and metal, all other sectoral indices ended in the green with auto, power and capital goods indices up 1 percent each.

BSE Midcap index was up 0.5 percent and smallcap index rose 1 percent.

#1 Moderating growth; risk in unsecured retail continues to be in spotlight

#2 RBI’s stress-test projections show that NBFCs’ NPAs should stay at 3.4 percent by Sep’25

#3 In a high-risk case scenario, NBFCs’ NPLs could pick up to 6 percent

#4 Remain cautious on NBFCs atleast till H1CY25

#5 Shriram Housing Finance continues to be top pick

#6 Negative on SBI Cards, M&M Fin & reduce call on CreditAccess Grameen

#7 Reduce call on Cholamandalam Investment & Bajaj Finance

Sasan Power Limited (Sasan Power), a subsidiary of Reliance Power Limited (Reliance Power), has made a bullet payment of USD 150 million to IIFCL, UK, fulfilling its debt obligation on 31 December 2024.

#1 Q3 Sales Booking May Remain Muted For AB Realty, Prestige, Sobha, Sunteck Realty & Kolte-Patil

#2 Q3 Sales Booking Are Expected To Remain Muted Due To Limited Or Lack Of New Launches

#3 Expect Godrej Props, Macrotech Developers, DLF, Oberoi & Brigade To Post Good Numbers

#4 Q4FY25 Is Expected To See A Surge In Launches From AB Realty, Prestige, Sobha

#5 Expect Surge In Launches In Q4 For Godrej Props, DLF, Brigade Ent, Sunteck Realty & Kolte-Patil

#6 Optimistic That Most Of Real Estate Players Will Be Able To Launch Remaining Proj Pipelines In Q4

#7 Top Picks Are Aditya Birla Real Estate & Oberoi Realty

CY24 was influenced by a consumption slowdown, the peaking of global interest rates, geopolitical uncertainties and rich valuations in pockets of mid and small caps. CY25 is likely to bring some moderation in these concerns, especially on the government spending and interest rate front. 1 year forward multiples for broader markets is at around 20x, a tad below the long term averages. Broader markets are expected to grow earnings at 12-13% in FY26.

While the FII flows remain volatile, a pickup in corporate earnings in 2HFY25 and expected easing in geopolitical tensions post Trump joining office, could turn higher foreign flows into Indian equities vs other emerging economies (grappling with slowdown). With global liquidity tightening starting to ease, continued strength in domestic and retail participation, consumption growth likely likely having bottomed out, political continuity, government spending to be better in 2HFY25 and valuation correction from highs, here is a reasonable likelihood that the markets could be well-positioned for CY25.

India has huge headroom in many segments such as energy transition, capital markets, EVs, electronics, manufacturing and and their respective ancillary ecosystems. China and India were at the same GDP in. Today China is at USD 17 trillion and India is at 3.5 trillion. Government has huge role to play in creating the right ecosystem in terms of clearances and infrastructure for the manufacturing sector. Furthermore, loosening of both fiscal and monetary policy could help revive economic growth.

Making money in 2025 will not be as easy and broad-based as it has been in the last 4 years. It will be much more stock and sector specific. In that back drop we can think sectors and companies that have exposure to discretionary consumption, energy transition, electronics manufacturing and capital markets sectors may perform relatively better.

The pharma major has entered into an agreement with Zaza Industrial Holdings KK, Japan, to sell 100% of its shares in Sun Pharma Japan Technical Operations, a step-down subsidiary (through its subsidiary Sun Pharma Japan), for Japanese yen one only. Consequently, Sun Pharma Japan Technical Operations will cease to be a subsidiary of the company.

In December 2024, Maruti Suzuki India sold a total of 178,248 units. Total sales in the month include domestic sales of 132,523 units, sales to other OEM of 8,306 units and the highest ever monthly exports of 37,419 units.

#1 Minimum Import Prices (MIP) for Soda Ash in India a positive development in challenging market

#2 MIP protects domestic players from further global soda ash price declines

#3 Minimum import prices can have a positive rub-off on volumes

#4 Maintain reduce as industry demand outlook remains muted amid oversupply risk

Lloyds Metals and Energy has reported its highest-ever nine months ended iron ore production, achieving an impressive 8.6 million tonnes, marking a 5 % year-on-year (YoY) increase.

#1 Freight would see modest growth amid margin stress & modal shift in cargo from road to rail

#2 Prospects look good for supply chain solutions given an evolving logistics industry

#3 Seaways would benefit from GoI’s thrust on coastal shipping & order for new ships

#4 Amid segment-specific tailwinds, build in 12 percent/13 percent/15 percent revenue/EBITDA/PAT CAGR over FY24-FY27

The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bihar government for the development of the 1,000 MW Hathidah Durgawati Pumped Storage Project and other PSPs.

Thomas Cook shuts some IT systems after cyber attack

Strides Pharma Science shares extend gains on second day

Markets have started the new year on a positive note with the Sensex rising over 400 points in first half of the trading session and Nifty over 100 points. If we compare our domestic markets to US markets, the ratio chart of Nifty 500 vs S&P500 is indicating a bottoming out setup which means India is poised to outperform the US markets atleast in the first half of January. A lot of this can also be attributed to the fact that markets were quite oversold as we ended the year 2024.

FII Long Short Ratio in Index has reached 14% with FII shorts at highest level in 3 months at 2.22 lakh contracts shorts in Index Futures. Although there are no signs of markets bottoming out yet but a meaningful bounce back from current levels cannot be ruled out.

Today’s move has been primarily sponsored by Private Banks, Cap Goods and FMCG with the major gainers/contributors being LT, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank along with Reliance. Pharma continues to remain the dominant sector over last two weeks however some profit booking cannot be ruled out in the coming days.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has advised Kirloskar Industries to disclose the Deed of Family Settlement (DFS) dated September 11, 2009, entered into among Kirloskar family members in their personal capacity, under SEBI regulations.

The question of whether the DFS is binding on Kirloskar companies is pending before the Civil Court since 2018. Despite this, SEBI has opined on matters that are sub-judice.

The company maintains that it is not bound by the DFS, nor does it impose any restrictions or liabilities on it. Kirloskar Industries is currently seeking legal counsel to challenge SEBI’s decision.

The company achieved net turnover of Rs 364.74 crores in December 2024 Vs Rs 332.15 crores in December 2023 recording a growth of 9.81% YoY and achieved gross turnover of Rs 444.81 crores in December 2024 Vs Rs 403.69 crores in December 2023, there by recording a growth of 10.19 percent YoY.

The company has approved fund-raising of Rs 20.6 crore and the issue of 1.25 crore shares on a preferential basis to investors at a price of Rs 16.5 per share.

Sunil Sapre retired as Executive Director of the company, effective December 31.

The Board has approved the appointment of Francisca Rosario as Chief Financial Officer and Radheshyam Laxmanrao Mopalwar as Chairman, replacing Pawankumar Nathmal Mallawat. Dineshkumar Laxminarayan Agrawal has resigned as Executive Director, and Akshay Pawan Kumar Jain as Whole-Time Director of the company.

The company's Offtake up 2.5% at 68.6 mt Vs 67.0 mt, YoY

Mahindra & Mahindra’s overall auto sales for the month of December 2024 stood at 69768 vehicles, a growth of 16%, including exports.

In the Utility Vehicles segment, Mahindra sold 41424 vehicles in the domestic market, a growth of 18% and overall, 42958 vehicles, including exports.

The domestic sales for Commercial Vehicles stood at 19502.

Domestic tractor sales in December 2024 were at 5,016 tractors as compared to 5,731 tractors in December 2023.

Export tractor sales in December 2024 were at 456 tractors registering a growth of 12.6 percent as against 405 tractors sold in December 2023.

#1 Total Deposits up 15.75% at Rs 99,155 crore Vs Rs 85,665 crore, YoY

#2 Advances rise 13.96% at Rs 82,842 crore Vs Rs 72,692 crore, YoY

#3 Total Business up 14.93% at Rs 1.81 lakh crore Vs Rs 1.58 lakh crore, YoY

#4 CASA up 4.28% at Rs 28,167 crore Vs Rs 27,012 crore, YoY

The company has approved the sale of a portion of its commercial vehicle loan book to Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise. The sale includes accounts tagged in Stage 3, with dues outstanding aggregating Rs 174 crore.

The company has accepted an award letter for a project worth USD 1.64 million for providing credit automation services and a purchase order worth Rs 20.9 crore for the Newgen Remittance system license cost. Additionally, its subsidiary, Newgen Software Technologies Pte in Singapore, has received a project worth SGD 1.74 million for a knowledge and records management system (KRMS).

Another subsidiary, Newgen Software Inc in the US, has executed a scope of work worth USD 1.8 million with a banking client for digital account opening, retail loans, ECM, and collection upgrades.

The company has completed the acquisition of a 17.5 percent stake in Nature Bio-Foods, its organic arm, from India Agri Business Fund II Limited, for Rs 110 crore. Post-acquisition, Nature Bio-Foods has become a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The Sensex was up 369.25 points or 0.47 percent at 78,508.26, and the Nifty was up 94.50 points or 0.40 percent at 23,739.30. About 2383 shares advanced, 861 shares declined, and 107 shares unchanged.

The company has received a contract worth Rs 7.3 crore from Hissar Builders for fabricating FOB steel girders at Gamharia, SINI, and Rajkharswan (RKSN) stations in the Chakradharpur division.

The company has executed a Joint Venture Agreement with Zetwerk Manufacturing Businesses and Others on 31st December, 2024 for incorporation of a Joint Venture company by way of subscription to the Equity share capital of the Joint Venture Company.

The proposed Joint Venture company will be formed to carry on the business of manufacturing and sale of solar modules, including the development and operation of the manufacturing unit in Domestic and International markets.