Stock Market Highlights: Sensex ends 296 points higher, Nifty50 tops 17,050; Tech Mahindra, Cipla, Dr Reddy's jump 2-3%

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Strong base for Nifty at 16,800, immediate resistance at 17,200-17,300: Ruchit Jain

Ruchit Jain, Lead Research at 5paisa.com, believes the market has been on a recovery path, with the bulls gaining their strength back. "The support base for the Nifty has now shifted to 16,800 and till this in intact, we do not expect any sharp sell-off. On the flipside, 17,200-17,300 levels are now seen as the immediate resistance range and if the index manages to surpass the same, the bulls will be back on front seat to lead the index higher. Traders are advised to look for buying opportunities on declines and trade with a positive bias. However, one should trade with proper risk management and aggressive positions should be built only on a confirmation above the mentioned range," he said. 

Rupee ends higher at 74.96 against US dollar

The rupee ended at 74.96 against the greenback as against its previous close of 75.02.

Avoid bottom fishing in RBL Bank: Karvy Capital's Kunj Bansal

Kunj Bansal, CIO of Karvy Capital, advises against bottom fishing in RBL Bank shares. "When a stock becomes a newsflow-driven one instead of being driven by financials or fundamentals, especially the safer, the risk averse investor should clearly avoid it. It becomes suitable either for very high risk investors or for traders. I wouldn't advise anybody to start bottom fishing right now. Hold on for some more time," he said. 

"If we look at this stock, after having achieved its peak about one-and-a-half or two years ago, leaving aside in between recoveries that have been there, the stock is actually on its way down. For quite some time, it is much below the IPO offer price also, so for anybody who has got it in IPO or has been holding on to it, it has turned out to be a negative investment. As of now, one is better advised to avoid and wait for some developments, and actual, concrete newsflow to happen," he added.

Market At Close | Sensex, Nifty begin last week of 2021 with gains

Here are some highlights: 

--Sensex, Nifty near intraday highs 

--ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank contribute most to Nifty Bank gain; RBL Bank drags

--Major private banks recover 2-3% to end at day’s high

--Midcap index up 130 points; Adani Enterprises, GMR Infra, Divi’s top gainers

--RBL Bank at lowest level since June 2020 after board, management rejig

--Pharma stocks rise after PM announces booster for healthcare, frontline workers

--Nifty IT top sectoral gainer; Nifty Media top loser dragged by Zee 

--Market breadth favours bulls; advance-decline ratio at 3:2

Bullish on Cadila, Dr Reddy's: Dipan Mehta

Dipan Mehta, Director at Elixir Equities, believes the best way to play the vaccine makers is by going for companies that have their own vaccines or manufacturing partnerships. "There are a few of them. Cadila certainly has a great opportunity in front of it because everybody wants to get a mixture of vaccines, and what we thought that once you took Covishield, you were over and done with that, that's not going to be the case going forward," he said. 

"Cadila and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories are among the top picks over there. I also like Sun Pharma purely because of its differentiated business strategy," he added.

GMR Infra has been a terrific outperformer in last 12-24 months: Dipan Mehta

Dipan Mehta, Director at Elixir Equities, said GMR Infra has been a terrific outperformer in the past 12-24 months. "Once they decided to split the business into airport and non-airport units, and got external investment in the airport business, there's a lot of interest in the stock. We all have seen how Adani group companies have done well; a lot of it is based on their activities in the airport division. Generally the market is of the view that that's a nice solid business and once the pandemic is over and done with, it could be a good business, with steady income and good RoIs as well," he said. 

"There's a great deal of monetisation opportunities in real estate. GMR also owns the Delhi and Hyderabad airports. So all hopes are based on a successful split of the company and then once there is a split, the residual value of the power business, the road business...even if you account for some value to that, you will realise that on a cumulative basis, you have made a decent profit because the airport business will be in the limelight, and go from strength to strength," Mehta added.

Market At Close | Tech Mahindra, Cipla, DRL, UPL, Kotak Bank top blue-chip gainers

On the other hand, Hindalco, Britannia, ONGC, IndusInd and Maruti Suzuki were the worst hit among the 10 laggards in the Nifty50 pack. 

Closing Bell | Sensex jumps nearly 300 points, Nifty tops 17,050 led by financial, IT stocks

The 30-scrip index ended 295.9 points higher at 57,420.2 and the broader Nifty50 benchmark settled at 17,086.3, up 82.5 points from its previous close. (Read more on the closing bell)

Peak of COVID Wave 2 was a difficult period: Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran to employees 

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said in a letter to employees that he is proud how the Tata group has responded to the pandemic this year.

"Our strategy, looking ahead, has four themes: digital, new energy, supply chain resilience, and health. Our companies are already adapting to these changes, and we are witnessing stronger performance. Our new pilots and businesses, from 5G to TataNeu and Tata Electronics, are poised to benefit from these four themes going forward," he wrote. 

"I am optimistic about what we can do next in the years ahead. Recent success has given our Group a great platform to build on. I am excited by the heights I know we can reach, not just financially, but also in terms of the difference we can make to communities. We can set new standards in technology, sustainability, and skills development," Chandrasekaran added.

Specialty chemicals segment to continue to do well: Rajesh Kothari

Rajesh Kothari, MD at AlfAccurate Advisors, believes the specialty chemicals segment has a long runway ahead. "The earnings growth will continue to surprise investors. Similarly, building material is proving to be a rewarding strategy. In IT, things still continue to be positive, but the valuations are also very high. So one needs to be careful while playing IT because high earnings growth is already getting built into high valuations,” he said.

HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank top Sensex movers

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Allcargo Logistics | Management says shareholding of demerged entities to stay same

Allcargo Logistics is demerging its businesses to attract the right investors, Chairman Shashi Kiran Shetty told CNBC-TV18.

The company’s board has approved the separation of its asset-heavy and asset-light businesses. The container freight station and inland container depot businesses will be demerged into Allcargo Terminals, and the equipment rental, logistics parks and other real estate assets will be demerged into Transindia Realty. (Read more)

Allcargo shares were down 2.3 percent at Rs 367.3 apiece on BSE in late afternoon deals. 

Exclusive | BMC Commissioner says curfew doesn't mean everything will shut down after 9 pm

In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal responded to some of the common questions that every Mumbaikar is asking. He said that curfew doesn't mean that everything will shut down post-9 pm.

According to Chahal, only crowding at public places has been restricted. (Read more)

Google seeks more time from CCI to respond to probe over Play Store policies

COVID restrictions dampening festive spirit for hospitality sector; what experts say

With new restrictions in place, in light of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the hospitality sector is once again facing the heat.

Just as the industry was gearing up for the festive season and hoping to make up for lockdown months, they will be required to adhere to a slew of instructions notified by various states. (Read more on COVID restrictions)

Why agri commodity prices spiked in 2021

The food price index hit a 10-year high in 2021. Agricultural or food commodity prices continue to rise each month during the year barring September.

Ethanol, oats, coffee, canola, cotton, corn, sugar and rice saw major gains amid supply chain issues on account of the pandemic. (Read more)

Campus Activewear files papers with SEBI to float IPO 

Campus Activewear's IPO will be entirely an offer for sale (OFS).

Buy Firstsource, Apollo Micro: Equity99's Rahul Sharma 

Here are two trading calls from Rahul Sharma of Equity99 Advisors:

--Buy Firstsource Solution for a target of Rs 198-200 with a stop loss at Rs 175 

--Buy Apollo Micro Systems for a target of Rs 150 with a stop loss at Rs 128 

BFSI stocks at day's highs

HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, L&T Finance, Fino Payments Bank and ICICI Lombard reached their intraday highs in afternoon deals. 

Increased internet use, demographic led to surge in unicorns: Antique Stock Broking's Prateek Kumar

Prateek Kumar of Antique Stock Broking told CNBC-TV18 that increased internet usage and demographic have led to a surge in unicorns. Global liquidity has further aided the increase in Indian unicorns, he said. 

India has seen more funding as China shut local internet businesses, he said. 

Kumar also said that the number of WhatsApp users in India is at 44 crore, and online shoppers at 15 crore. 

Bliss GVS, Laurus, Natco among top pharma gainers

Capillary Technologies files draft papers to raise Rs 850 crore through IPO

Capillary Technologies (India) Ltd, backed by Warburg Pincus and Sequoia Capital, has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator SEBI to raise Rs 850 crore through an IPO. The company offers AI-based Cloud-native software-as-a solution (SaaS) products and solutions.

The IPO comprises fresh issuance of equity shares aggregating to Rs 200 crore, and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 650 crore by Capillary Technologies International, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). 

Explained | Why banking stocks are falling, and how to look for bargains

Banking stocks have traditionally been seen as a proxy for the economy. If the economy does well, so do banking stocks. Conversely, banking stocks are the first to take a beating when it slips into a downtrend. In 2021, however, this co-relation has been tested.

Even as the economy has been on the mend, banking stocks have been among the biggest underperformers on the bourses.

CNBC-TV18's Anuj Singhal gives the key reasons behind this trend, and explains how one can play this trend. (Read more on banking stocks)

RBL Bank, BEML, Inox Leisure, Zee top BSE 500 laggards

On the other hand, Ashoka Buildcon, GMR Infra, Bliss GVS Pharma, Vakrangee and Responsive Industries -- up between 6.6 percent and 9.4 percent -- were the top performers among the 270 gainers in the broadest index on the bourse.

Good time to buy stocks, pharma looks reasonably valued: S Naren

It’s a good time to buy stocks for a patient investor, said S Naren, ED and CIO of ICICI Prudential AMC. He also said pharma looks reasonably valued now.

“Technology is priced for growth and FMCG has always been priced for growth even if it doesn’t deliver growth,” he said. (Read more)

RBL Bank’s financial health stable, don’t react to speculation: RBI

The RBI on Monday said RBL Bank was well capitalised and that the financial position of the bank remained satisfactory. “There has been speculation relating to the RBL Bank Ltd. in certain quarters which appears to be arising from recent events surrounding the bank,” the central bank said.

On Saturday, the RBI appointed Yogesh Dayal, the Chief General Manager In-Charge of the Department of Communication, as an additional director on RBL Bank's board. On the same day, RBL Bank informed stock exchanges that its MD and CEO Vishwavir Ahuja, a veteran banker, had gone on leave with immediate effect.

Rumours about the bank’s financial health have been doing the rounds following Vishwawir Ahuja’s sudden exit. RBL Bank shares are down around 14 percent at Rs 147. Earlier in the day, the stock had crashed over 20 percent to a a 52-week low of Rs 132.3.

2021 | A look back at the IPO market; winners and losers

2021 witnessed the highest amount of money ever raised in a calendar year through initial public offerings. Sixty three companies hit the market, and we are still not done. Here is the lowdown on the primary market in 2021. (Read more on IPOs in 2021)

Exclusive | Rakesh Jhunjhunwala denies any interest in buying stake in RBL Bank

In an exclusive interaction with CNBC-TV18, ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala denied any interest in buying stake in private lender RBL bank.

Earlier, CNBC-TV18 had reported that Jhunhunwala and D-Mart founder RK Damani approached the RBI with the request to buy 10 percent in RBL Bank. (Read more on what Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said)

RBL Bank shares recover 11% from day's low

RBL Bank shares were down 15 percent at Rs 146.7 apiece on BSE, having recovered 10.8 percent from the day's low of Rs 132.4.