Thank you readers! Here are the key highlights from today's session

- Nifty Ends 5 Points Higher To A Record Closing High Of 13,114

- Sensex Slips 37 Points To 44,618 & Midcap Index Gains 98 Pts To 20,002

- Midcap Index Surges To A 36-month High, Closes Above 20,000

- Nifty Bank Falls 355 Points To 29,463; HDGC Bank, Kotak Bank Top Losers

- 4 Of Top 5 Nifty Losers Are Financials; Kotak Bank & HDFC Twins Top Losers

- GAIL, ONGC, Asian Paints, Coal India & Adani Ports Top Nifty Gainers

- Panacea Bio, AIA Engg, Adani Power, J Kr Infra Amongst Top Midcap Gainers

- PFIZER Closes 2% Higher Following UK’s Nod For Pfizer-BioNTech COVID Vaccine

- Bharti Infratel Surges 4% On Reports Of Bharti Airtel Buying Addl 4.9% Stake

- Adani, JSPL, Vedanta Higher On Coal Min’s Plan To Allot Commercial Mining Blocks

- Market Breadth Favours Advances; Advance-Decline Ratio At 3:2

Closing Bell: Sensex ends flat, Nifty around 13,100; auto, metal stocks rise

Indian indices trimmed losses to end flat on Wednesday led by gains in metal, auto and IT sectors. However, gains were capped by a loss in financials and bank with both the sectors down over a percent each. The Sensex ended 37 points lower at 44,618 while the Nifty rose 5 points to settle at 13,114. Broader markets also outperformed benchmarks with the Nifty Midcap index up half a percent. On the Nifty50 index, GAIL, ONGC, Asian Paints, Coal India and Titan were the top gaienrs while Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Shree Cement and ICICI Bank led the losses. Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index surged 2.5 percent while the Nifty Auto index added 1 percent. FMCG, IT, and Pharma sectors also ended in the green. Meanwhile the Nifty Bank and Nifty Fin Services fell 1.2 percent each.

Govt receives 3 bids for BPCL: Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

”Lot of interest is there,” Pradhan said at a webinar series on ’The Road To Atmanirbhar Bharat’ organised by Swarajya Magazine. ”DIPAM has recently informed market… I think three parties have given EoI for the bidding process.” He did not give details. Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), which is handling the strategic sale, had tweeted on November 16 – the last date for bidding – that the transaction advisors (TA) for the sale have reported receiving ”multiple expressions of interest.” ”The transaction will move to the second stage after scrutiny by TA,” he had said. More here

Bharti Airtel increases stake in Bharti Infratel through creeping acquisition

EXCLUSIVE: Coal Ministry to award coal mines auctioned for commercial mining in 7-10 days

Positive on Burger King; like Ipca, Divi's Labs & Cipla, says Complete Circle Consultants

Positive Q3 earnings may be next trigger; bullish on chemicals: ASK Investment Managers

Prateek Agarwal, Business Head & CIO of ASK Investment Managers is positive on chemicals and financials. He feels markets could consolidate around the current levels (Nifty at 13,000 approximately). Agarwal said, “We should expect the markets to consolidate at these levels for some time, not expecting any significant downtick given the lower interest rate, high liquidity kind of scenario that we are in, but consolidation is something that we expect.” He expects Q3 earnings to surprise positively. “For the markets to move up I think we will need to be surprised on the positive side and that surprise could come from Q3 earnings." More here

Burger King IPO: Issue subscribed 97% on day one

The initial public offering of quick-service restaurant chain Burger King India has been subscribed 97 percent so far on the first day of the bidding process. The Rs 810-crore public issue has received bids for 7.23 crore equity shares against an IPO size of 7.45 crore equity shares, data available on the exchanges showed. The portion reserved for retail investors is oversubscribed 3 times so far on Day 1, while the portion set aside for non-institutional investors is subscribed 2.8 percent. Qualified institutional investors are yet to put in their bids. The company has already raised Rs 364.5 crore from anchor investors on December 1, a day before the issue opening. More Here

Auto stocks rise on better-than-expected November wholesale data

Gold rate today: Yellow metal trades flat; Silver falls 1%

Prefer M&M, Escorts, Tata Motors in auto space, says Macquarie

“We like Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Escorts and Tata Motors in the auto sector,” said Sandeep Bhatia, Head-Cash Equities, India, Commodities & Global Markets at Macquarie Group in an interview to CNBC-TV18. According to him, most of the positive surprise in autos is factored into the price.

He also likes IT sector and believes some of the negatives of Trump’s regime could be reversed. “We will continue to remain overweight on financials,” said Bhatia. He said the focus would shift to midcaps as the economy recovers. Watch video for more

Phoenix Mills shares jump 7% on GIC deal; brokerages raise price targets

Continue to remain cautious on market: Sushil Kedia of Kedianomics

Burger King IPO opens today: Key things to know before you invest

Burger King India, the quick-service restaurant chain, is set to launch its initial public offer (IPO) for subscription on December 2. This would be the fourteenth IPO in the current year. The issue will close on December 4 and the shares are likely to list on December 14. The public issue consists of a fresh issue of Rs 450 crore and an offer for sale of 6 crore equity shares by promoter QSR Asia Pte Ltd aggregating to Rs 360 crore. The fresh issue size was reduced to Rs 450 crore from Rs 600 crore earlier as the company has undertaken a pre-IPO placement by way of rights issue of Rs 58.08 crore to promoter selling shareholder at Rs 44 per equity share and preferential allotment of Rs 91.92 crore to Amansa Investments at a price of Rs 58.50 per share. More here

Here’s why Affle India shares are at all-time high 

Tech firm Affle India has advanced as much as 20 percent in the last seven sessions and 35 percent in the last one month on the back of strong earnings growth. The company has reported robust earnings through the last three quarters. Going forward, the management expects strong uptick in the demand from clients in India and abroad and sees accelerated use of mobile apps and internet shopping. For more details, watch the video

Hero MotoCorp readies sales and distribution strategy for Harley bikes

Hero MotoCorp, India's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, is likely to accommodate around 45 percent of Harley Davidson's dealer partners in India. The company has signed letters of intent with ten existing Harley dealers and will finalise contracts with 11-13 dealers in the coming days, sources told CNBC-TV18. "Both companies will complete the transition for the Indian market well before 31st December," said a source. Harley Davidson has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Hero MotoCorp for the Indian market. Hero MotoCorp will be responsible for managing Harley's distribution network and will also sell high capacity bikes developed by Hero under the Harley brand name. Harley Davidson has 33 outlets in the country and 21 dealer partners. More here

Opening bell: Sensex opens flat, Nifty below 13,100; bank, IT stocks fall

Indian indices opened flat but with negative bias on Wednesday as gains in auto, FMCG sectors were capped by losses in IT stocks and heavyweights bank stocks. At 9:18 am, the Sensex was down 59 points while the Nifty fell 15 points to 13,093. Broader markets, however, outperformed benchmarks with the Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices up 0.4 percent each. Among sectors, Nifty Metal added over 1 percent while Nifty Auto gained 0.8 percent. Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma were also positive while Nifty Bank, Nifty Fin Services and Nifty IT were in the red. On the Nifty50 index, Tata Motors, UPL, Hindalco, MAruti and M&M were the top gainers while Powergrid, Tech Mahindea ,RIL, Bajaj Finance and Infosys led the losses.

Volkswagen faces leadership crisis as CEO demands vote of confidence

Volkswagen, the world’s largest vehicle maker by sales, risked a leadership crisis on Tuesday after Chief Executive Herbert Diess forced a vote of confidence in his reform efforts by asking for an early contract extension. The multi-brand car and truck maker is convening its Executive Committee to discuss Diess’s demand for the contract extension, more than a year before his current term comes to an end in 2023, three sources told Reuters on Monday. The Austrian manager, who defected from BMW in 2015, and helped VW to reform after its diesel scandal with a 73 billion euro ($87 billion) electric vehicle investment plan, has grown frustrated with German labour leaders blocking cost cuts. The supervisory board’s Executive Committee, which is headed by VW Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch, and includes Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piech, members of the carmaker’s owning families, as well as labour boss Bernd Osterloh, is due to meet on Tuesday, the three sources told Reuters. More here

Infosys to set up software development centre in Kolkata, construction to begin by July: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

IT services giant Infosys will start construction of a proposed software development centre in the metropolis by July 2021, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday. The project will generate massive employment in the IT sector, she said after a cabinet meeting at the state secretariat.

"We had written to Infosys to set up a software development centre here for which we will be giving them land. The company has agreed to our proposal. Infosys will be submitting the final approved sanctioned plan by December 20," Banerjee said.

The chief minister said India's second largest IT services company will start construction of the development centre by July next year, and aim to complete it within 24 months. Infosys had earlier proposed to set up an IT/ITeS special economic zone (SEZ) over an area of 20.14 hectares in South 24 Parganas. Read more here.