Extending the previous session’s excitement, Indian equity indices concluded Wednesday’s trade with a rise of more than a percent, with frontline measures recapturing their critical 56,900 (Sensex) and 16,950 (Nifty) levels amid a bullish global market bounce.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Midcap index surged 1.47%, while the Small-cap index up by 1.66%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.93%, Industrials up by 2.04%, Energy up by 2.02%, Capital Goods up by 2.01% and Auto was up by 1.90%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

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The Nifty50 has formed a long bullish candle on the daily chart , suggesting the continuation of a pullback rally following a sharp decline, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

“The current upmove is in line with the formation of a lower top, but there is no confirmation of any lower top reversal yet at the highs,” he said.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 16,859.6, followed by 16,763.8. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,011.1 and 17,066.8.

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Indian Indices

Sensex gained 611.55 points or 1.09% to 56,930.56 and the Nifty was up by 184.60 points or 1.10% to 16,955.45 in the previous session. The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 56,989.01 and 56,471.03, respectively and there were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index while Nifty traded in a range of 16,819.50 and 16,971.00 and there were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.  

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 223-points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,077.50 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:00 hours IST.

Asian Markets

Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng gained 0.57% and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.16%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.07%.

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US Markets

The S&P 500 rose 47.33 points, or 1%, to 4,696.56.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 261.19 points, or 0.7%, to 35,753.89.

The Nasdaq rose 180.81 points, or 1.2%, to 15,521.89.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 18.96 points, or 0.9%, to 2,221.90.

European Markets

European markets finished broadly higher yesterday with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 was up 1.24% while Germany’s DAX was up 0.95% and London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.61%.

Vedanta plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore through NCDs

Vedanta Ltd stated in a regulatory filing on December 22 that it plans to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs). “We would like to inform you that the company intends to offer rated, secured, redeemable, noncumulative, nonconvertible debentures in one or more tranches totaling up to Rs 1,000 Crores,” Vedanta said in a statement to the stock markets. The business will host a meeting of its lawfully formed Committee of Directors on December 27, 2021, it said. “The aforesaid issue is in accordance with the resolutions taken by the Board of Directors at their meetings conducted on May 07, 2019, and October 03, 2020,” the business added.

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India replaces UK to be 3rd top country hosting unicorns

Adding 33 ’unicorns’ in a single year has helped India displace the United Kingdom to be third in the list of countries that are home to such enterprises valued at over USD 1 billion each, according to a report released on Wednesday. India was placed fourth when it comes to the number of unicorns last year. However, the US and northern neighbor China, who occupy the first two ranks, are way ahead, according to the data compiled by Hurun Research Institute. The US added 254 unicorns and now totals 487 companies in the coveted list, while China added 74 to take its tally to 301 start-ups having a valuation of over USD 1 billion, it said. The top-two occupants are home to 74 percent of the unicorn universe, it said, adding that the overall list saw 673 ’new faces’ and 201 drop-offs.

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SEBI’s total income in 2019-20 tanks 15% to Rs 813 crore 

Capital markets regulator SEBI’s total income declined by 15 percent to Rs 813 crore in 2019-20 mainly due to a drop in earnings from fees and subscriptions. According to the annual accounts of SEBI made public on Wednesday, the total expenditure of the regulator rose to Rs 588.14 crore for the year ended on March 31, 2020, from Rs 492.34 crore in the previous fiscal. The other administrative expenses increased from Rs 131 crore to Rs 148 crore and the establishment expenses climbed from Rs 293.15 crore to Rs 375.69 crore. The regulator’s fee income declined to Rs 608.26 crore from Rs 750.14 crore while earnings from investments dropped to Rs 170.35 crore from Rs 180.66 crore. However, other income rose to Rs 18.15 crore from Rs 17.44 crore.

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Zee-Sony merger to come into effect in 8-10 months

The merger announced on December 22 between Zee Entertainment and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) would take at least 8 months to complete. Punit Goenka, who will serve as the merged company’s Managing Director and CEO, stated that the full merger process, including clearances, will take eight to ten months. “While this is a positive step, there are multiple stages in bringing the combined company into existence. As for the process, we will move to the next step that involves all the necessary regulatory and shareholder approvals,” he said during a conference call. Goenka added that with the merger, the brand Zee will become part of the new entity and the newly merged company will decide which brands to keep and for how long. Even on the streaming side, Goenka said that the two over the top (OTT) platforms ZEE5 and SonyLIV will continue to run their businesses independently. “We cannot come together until the merger process is completed,” he said.

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Central Bank of India, U GRO Capital ink co-lending deal, aims Rs 1,000 crore disbursal

MSME lending fintech platform, U GRO Capital on Wednesday announced that it has signed a co-lending agreement with the Central Bank of India. Under this partnership, the two entities aim to disburse up to Rs 1000 crore to U GRO Capital’s varied MSME segments under its programs like Pratham, Sanjeevani, Saathi, GRO MSME, and Machinery financing, in the next 12 months. The co-lending arrangement with the Central Bank of India will work towards providing formal credit to underserved MSMEs at affordable rates across all product categories of U GRO Capital, it said in a statement.

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Bulk Deal data

Authum Investment & Infrastructure Limited bought 200,000 equity shares in Veto Switchgear Cable Ltd at Rs 99 per share, according to data available on the NSE.

Manjeet Cotton Private Limited sold 35,00,000 equity shares in Sintex Industries Ltd at Rs 13.3 per share, and Piyushkumar Thumar sold 3,03,000 equity shares in Bright Solar Limited at Rs 5.25 per share on the NSE, as per the bulk deals data. 

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Guttikonda Rajasekhar bought 1,75,000 equity shares in Goldstone Tech Ltd at Rs 88.97 per share and Lakshmi Guttikonda Vara bought 5,16,126 equity shares in Megasoft Limited at Rs 60.35 on the NSE, the bulk deals data mentioned. 

Shrenik  Sudhirbhai  Vimavala, Chairman and Managing Director of Shrenik Limited sold 1,60,76,698 equity shares in the company at Rs 2.06 per share on the NSE.

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DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 827.26 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1593.41 crore in the Indian equity market on December 22, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

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NSE F&O Ban

Vodafone Idea, ZEEL, Escorts, and Indiabulls Housing Finance are under the F&O ban for December 23. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.