Nifty50: 14,690 ▼ -154 (-1.0%)
Sensex: 49,509 ▼ -627 (-1.2%)
After a gap-down opening, the markets continued to slide for the rest of the day. The Nifty 50 saw 29 of its stocks close in the red.
Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Realty (+1.7%) and Nifty PSU Bank (+1.3%) were the top gainers, whereas Nifty Financial Services (-2.0%) and Nifty Nifty Bank (-1.6%) were the top losers.
| Top gainers | Today's change |
| Tata Steel | ▲ 2.3% |
| Grasim | ▲ 2.2% |
| UPL | ▲ 1.9% |
| Top losers | Today's change |
| HDFC | ▼ 3.9% |
| HDFC Bank | ▼ 3.8% |
| Power Grid | ▼ 2.6% |
Here are the top stories of the day.
Govt to recapitalise four PSU banks
- The government plans to infuse ₹14,500 crore into four PSU banks, namely Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of India, UCO Bank and Central Bank of India. It will do so by issuing non-interest bearing bonds.
- With this round of funding, the government has completed its target of infusing ₹20,000 crore in public sector banks for FY21. Earlier in December, it pumped ₹5,500 crore into Punjab and Sind Bank.
Kalpataru Power bags large orders
- Mumbai-based Kalpataru Power has announced that it has won domestic and overseas orders worth ₹625 crore. These orders comprise power transmission contracts in Africa and Europe, in addition to a railway electrification project in India.
- In FY21, the company claims to have won orders totalling ₹16,000 crore. Despite the news of the orders, the stock closed 0.8% lower today.
Vedanta seeks to set up copper smelter
- Reports suggest that mining major Vedanta Ltd has issued an expression of interest (EoI) to partner with state governments to set up a copper-smelter complex.
- The company plans to invest around ₹10,000 crore in the project, which will be located in coastal India and employ 10,000 people. The stock fell 0.5% today in a weak market.
Mukand Limited soars on debt reduction plan
- Shares of the stainless steel maker were locked in the 20% upper circuit and hit a fresh 52-week high of ₹82.80, supported by a strong jump in trading volumes.
- The stock soared 44% in the last two sessions after the company announced that it has transferred 55 acres of surplus leasehold land at Thane to NTT Global for ₹801 crore. Earlier it had received ₹713 crore from stake sale in a JV. The company plans to use these amounts for debt repayment. In FY21, it has pared debt by more than ₹975 crore.
Closing bell
After a sharp rally yesterday, traders chose to book profits today. Weak international cues led to the overall decline in the markets. Much of the drag in the indices was created by financial stocks, particularly the HDFC twins, which fell close to 4% each. These two stocks command a combined weightage of 18% in the Nifty50.
We are in a holiday-shortened week, and tomorrow is both the last trading day of the week and the expiry of weekly derivative contracts. One could expect volatility to increase, and traders could get directional clarity, which they are seeking at the moment.
Good to know
What are block deals?
Trades having a value greater than or equal ₹10 crore are called block deals. A block deal is allowed only in the equity segment for all scrips. Indian exchanges provide two time windows for executing block deals. The first one is from 8:45 am to 9:00 am, while the second one is open from 2:05 pm to 2:20 pm.
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