Stock Market Highlights: Sensex ends flat, Nifty around 13,100; auto, metal stocks rise

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

- Sensex & Nifty Close Flat While Banks Underperform

- 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

The government has received three preliminary bids for buying of controlling stake in India’s second-largest fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. Mining-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta had on November 18 confirmed putting in an expression of interest (EoI) for buying the government’s 52.98 percent stake in BPCL. The other two bidders are said to be global funds, one of them being Apollo Global Management.

”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

Parent company - and the listed telecom major - Bharti Airtel has acquired 4.9 percent stake in its telecom arm Bharti Infratel by way of a creeping acquisition. Five independent sources with direct knowledge of the developments told CNBC-TV18 about the developments. It is noteworthy that creeping acquisition norms cap promoter purchases at 5 percent of equity in a year. It is further learnt that Providence, Edge Point and FIIs sold approximately 14.7 crore shares at Rs 216-224 per share in this deal. Watch the video for the exclusive details.

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

The coal ministry is likely to award 19 coal mines auctioned for the first time ever within 7-10 days, once the due diligence is over. The government had offered 38 coal mines for commercial mining auction but interest came in only for 19 mines where some of the highest bids were received from companies like Aditya Birla Group, Adani Group, Vedanta, JSPL amongst others. CNBC-TV18 also learns that the government is going to issue a tender for re-bid of 3 coal mines which received only one bid each. The ministry is also in the process of identifying coal mines for the next auction in January or February next year. The coal ministry has a bank of 38 coal mines which are fully explored. More here

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

Complete Circle Consultants is positive on Burger King India as it says the valuations are extremely comforting and as the outlets grow from 250 to around 350-400, a lot of operating leverage will also come in, said Gurmeet Chadha, Co-Founder and CEO of the firm. On the pharmaceutical sector, he said, “It is a complex sector to track vis-à-vis others. I like Ipca. I prefer more diversified plays where you have a combination of domestic formulation, exports and APIs. That is better to play over a long term. I continue to like Divi’s Laboratories despite the run-up in the stock. Even from these levels, the profits can probably double in next two to two and a half years. I also like Cipla.” More here

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

Auto stocks rose on Wednesday after wholesales for November came in higher than expected. The Nifty Auto index rose over 1 percent in intra-day deals as compared to a weak Nifty. Tata Motors was the top gainer, up over 4 percent after the automaker reported a 26 percent YoY rise in domestic sales at 47,859 units. In the passenger vehicle (PV) segment, sales more than doubled with 21,641 units sold in November 2020 as against 10,400 units sold in the year-ago period. Bajaj Auto also rose nearly 2 percent after November sales data. The company reported around 5 percent YoY growth in total vehicle sales at 4,22,240 units in November. The company had sold a total of 4,03,223 units in the same month last year. More Here

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

Gold prices in India traded flat on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Wednesday tracking a subdued trend in the international spot prices. At 11:40 am, gold futures for February delivery eased 0.07 percent to Rs 48,535 per 10 grams as against the previous close of Rs 48,567 and the opening price of Rs 48,459 on the MCX. Silver futures traded 0.68 percent lower at Rs 62,768 per kg. The prices opened at Rs 62,481 as compared to the previous close of Rs 63,198 per kg. “Gold price stabilized due to short-covering at key support levels. The bias for the yellow metal looks positive till it trades above Rs 48,100 level on MCX,” said Amit Sajeja, VP Research - Commodities & Currencies at Motilal Oswal. More here