Stock Market Live: Indices at day’s high; Sensex jumps over 400 points, Nifty above 13,700; banks lead

Yash Gupta Equity Research Associate, Angel Broking

After Vedanta promoter had failed to delist the company’s shares in October 2020 as not able to receive a requisite quantity of share at a cutoff price. At the time of delisting the promoter group fixed cutoff price at Rs 87.5 and now via block deal as per the indicative price of Rs 160 which is more than 82 percent of cut off price. We expect the stock to consolidate at these levels, the upside will be very limited from current market price as all positive news has been factored in.

Rusmik Oza, Executive Vice President, Head of Fundamental Research at Kotak Securities

This has been a short but eventful week with wide gyration in stock prices. After the sharp correction seen on Monday prices have recovered in the last three days. Monthly expiry has also contributed to the higher volatility. We can expect muted FII activity in the next week also due to year end phenomenon but expect activity to pick up sharply from the first week of January. Most probably Nifty should take support at 13,000 levels with likely break out above the 14,000 level sometime in January.

Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys | The company said that the capacity of its old power plant of 108 MW has been derated to 50 MW therby reducing its thermal power generation capacity to 200 MW from 258 MW.

Aurobindo Pharma inks pact with COVAXX to develop COVID-19 vaccine

Aurobindo Pharma on Thursday said it has inked a licensing pact with US-based company COVAXX to develop and commercialise a vaccine for COVID-19. The company has entered an exclusive licence agreement to develop, commercialise and manufacture UB-612, the first multitope peptide-based vaccine to fight COVID-19, for India and UNICEF, Aurobindo Pharma said in a regulatory filing.

COVAXX is currently conducting a Phase 1 clinical trial for the vaccine candidate. “This vaccine has immense potential in eliminating shedding, and hence containing, the spread of the pandemic,” Aurobindo Pharma Managing Director N Govindarajan said.

As per the agreement, the Hyderabad-based firm has obtained the exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and sell COVAXX’s UB-612 vaccine in India and to UNICEF, as well as non-exclusive rights in other select emerging and developing markets. Aurobindo Pharma and COVAXX are partnering on clinical development, manufacturing and marketing of US firm’s vaccine candidate, UB-612. Continue reading.

Steel Strips Wheels | The company received new export orders of nearly 33,000 wheels for US and EU trailer market, to be executed in the month of January and February 21 from its Chennai plant. Orders of similar capacity are anticipated from the same customer base as businesses continue to recover rapidly, the company said.

SJVN | The company has bagged 501 MW projects from Government of Himachal Pradesh.

Keshav Lahoti, Associate Equity Analyst, Angel Broking

Antony Waste Handling Cell issue was subscribed 15 times by the end of the issue, unlike last time in March 2020 when the issue was not even subscribed a single time. If I compare Antony IPO response with last few IPO such as Burger King, Mrs Bector; the response from investors for Antony has not been as good as these IPO. Business is dependent on a limited number of customers for a significant portion of the revenue. So considering the valuation of P/E of 11.5x on FY20 basis (at the upper price band), we recommended “NEUTRAL” rating on the issue.

Adani Power | The company’s agreement to acquire 49 percent stake in Odisha Power has been cancelled as Odisha government exercises Right of First Refusal (RoFR) as it holds 51 percent stake in Odisha Power Generation.

Fairchem Organics | Promoters of the company have announced an open offer to acquire up to 33.78 lakh shares at Rs 575.53 per share.

Buzzing Stock | Shares of Ambuja Cements rallied 10 percent while those of ACC surged more than 7 percent after both firms announced the renewal of the current Technology and Know-How Agreement (TKH Agreement) with Holcim Technology. As the existing TKH Agreement was renewed the existing charge at 1 percent of net revenues continues for a period of two years.

Bharti Airtel, RIL shares gain; Vodafone Idea falls after Oct subscription data

Shares of Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel gained between 1 and 2 percent while Vodafone Idea declined more than 2 percent in the early morning trade on Thursday, reacting to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) October subscription data. According to the data released by the TRAI, Bharti Airtel added the highest number of subscribers for the second consecutive month with 3.67 million new customers in October, taking its total wireless customer base to 330.28 million in October 2020. Reliance Jio added 2.22 million new mobile customers, taking its total subscriber base to 406.35 million during the reported month. The other four mobile service providers — Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), BSNL, MTNL and Reliance Communications — reported a loss of subscriber base. More here

Gold rate today: Yellow metal trades flat

Gold prices in India traded flat on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Thursday amid gains in international spot prices on a weak US dollar. At 11:10 am, gold futures for February delivery eased 0.02 percent to Rs 50,141 per 10 grams as against the previous close of Rs 50,149 and opening price of Rs 50,151 on the MCX. Silver futures traded 0.18 percent higher at Rs 67,695 per kg. The prices opened at Rs 67,701 as compared to the previous close of Rs 67,576 per kg. “A weak dollar and developments over US stimulus package support gold prices. However, the yellow metal is likely to remain rangebound amid lack of fresh data points and Christmas weekend going ahead,” said Ajay Kedia, director, Kedia Commodity Comtrade. More here

Titan & Jubilant long-term plays; ‘underweight’ on Avenue Supermarts: Edelweiss

A big move is seen across the quick-service restaurant (QSR) as well as the retail space from March lows. Jubilant FoodWorks has rallied 40 percent. Westlife Development, Avenue Supermarts, V-Mart and Aditya Birla Fashion have seen a rally between 60 percent and 90 percent. Abneesh Roy, EVP-Institutional Equities at Edelweiss Securities, in an interview with CNBC-TV18, said from a long-term perspective, Titan and Jubilant can give a 15 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). “We would be ‘underweight’ on Avenue Supermarts but at current valuations, Trent, V-Mart Retail, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail are looking good and we see decent upsides in these names from 6-12 month perspective,” Roy said. For more details, watch video

Vedanta shares surge 13% after promoters buy additional stake via block deals

Shares of Vedanta surged over 13 percent on Thursday after 19.1 crore shares (5.1 percent equity) worth Rs 3,042 crore changed hands via block deals on the BSE and NSE. The stock rose as much as 13.3 percent to the day’s high of Rs 170.5 per share on BSE. Just in 2 trading sessions, the stock has risen nearly 20 percent. As per media reports yesterday, the company was planning to acquire 4.98 percent shares via block deal. The Anil Agarwal-owned firm was looking to obtain around 1.8 crore shares for a price between Rs 150.45 and Rs 160 per share. This will raise promotors’ stake in the company to 55.04 percent from 50.14 percent. As per SEBI norms, promoters holding more than 25 percent but less than 75 percent are allowed to acquire up to 5 percent a year through such creeping acquisition.

Specialty chemical firm Anupam Rasayan files for IPO to raise Rs 760 crore

In one of the best years for initial public offerings, another firm has filed draft papers with Sebi for IPO. Surat-based Anupam Rasayan has filed draft papers with Sebi for a Rs 760-crore IPO. As per the firm, the issue proceeds would be used mainly for repayment of debt worth Rs 556.20 crore. As of September, the company had a total debt of Rs 861.58 crore. Bankers appointed to the issue are Axis Capital, Ambit Private, IIFL Securities and JM Financial, the company said. More here

Mrs Bectors Food lists at Rs 500 per share on NSE, a premium of over 73% to issue price

Mrs Bector’s Food Specialities made a strong debut on the exchanges with the shares listing at Rs 500 apiece on the NSE, a premium of 73.61 percent to the issue price of Rs 288 per share. The stock was listed with a premium of 73.95 percent at Rs 501 apiece on the BSE. The Rs 540.54-crore public issue of the premium and mid-premium biscuits maker was subscribed 198.02 times during December 15-17, the highest subscription seen by IPO in 2020. Mrs Bectors Food raised Rs 40.54 crore via fresh issue and Rs 500 crore through the offer for sale by existing shareholders.

JUST IN: Wipro share buyback opens on December 29 and closes January 11

Opening Bell: Sensex opens over 200 points higher, Nifty above 13,650; broader markets outperform

Indian indices opened higher on Thursday, tracking gains in Asian peers ahead of the Christmas break, as global investors cheered a potential Brexit deal and economic recovery prospects. All sectors, barring the IT index, witnessed buying in early morning deals. At 9:18 am, the Sensex was up 249 points at 46,694 while the Nifty rose 70 points to 13,671. Broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.8 percent and 1 percent, respectively. On the Nifty50 index, ONGC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, GAIL and Bajaj Auto were the top gainers while Infosys, Wipro, Asian Paints and TCS were the only losers.

Brexit trade deal marathon heads to the finish line

Britain and the European Union appeared close to clinching a long-elusive trade agreement on Wednesday, raising hopes that they were now set to avoid a turbulent economic rupture on New Year’s Day. A senior British government source said Prime Minister Boris Johnson was poised to do a trade deal with the EU, after media reports said the agreement had already been done, just over a week before Britain completes its journey out of the bloc. But there was no official confirmation from either side that the months of negotiations had reached a conclusion. A source at the EU’s executive Commission said talks were still underway – though in their ”final stages” – and one EU official cautioned against excluding the risk of a ”no-deal” scenario on Jan. 1. More here

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin shows encouraging results in clinical trials: Research paper

Covaxin, a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech, showed long-term antibody and T- cell (immune) memory responses three months after the shot in phase 1 volunteers and tolerable safety outcomes in Phase 2 study, the city-based company has said, suggesting the antibodies may persist for six to 12 months. In phase 2, it also showed enhanced humoral and cell- mediated immune responses and the results were found in the safety and immunogenicity clinical trial of the vaccine candidate. More here