SGX Nifty Trades Flat, LIC Stake Sale, WPI Inflation in October, and Top Buzzing Stocks Today

Wed, 18 Nov Pre-Open | Monish Vora, TM Team

   Previous Close   

Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity and ended at fresh record highs yesterday.

Extending a record-breaking spree, benchmark indices registered sharp gains as global stock markets rose with investors cheering the news of another promising coronavirus vaccine and optimism about world recovery.

Moderna became the second drug maker after Pfizer to announce promising trial data in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 315 points (up 0.7%).

Don't Miss: This Potential 10x Opportunity in the Long Term

The NSE Nifty closed higher by 94 points (up 0.7%).

Tata Steel and SBI were among the top gainers.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 1.1%. The BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.9%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the metal sector and finance sector.

Oil & gas stocks, on the other hand, witnessed selling pressure.

At 8 am today, the SGX Nifty was trading up by 20 points, or 0.1% higher at 12,900 levels. Indian share markets are headed for a flat to positive opening today following the trend on SGX Nifty.

Gold prices were trading up by 0.1% at Rs 50,862 per 10 grams at the time of closing stock market hours yesterday.

Last week, gold prices fell about Rs 1,200 tracking a similar trend in overseas markets as optimism over Covid-19 vaccine put pressure on gold prices.

To know more about gold, you can check out our detailed article on investing in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Speaking of the stock markets, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani talks about how to short sell the right way, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

In the video below, Vijay shares what a good short selling system is all about and how it can give you profitable short selling calls when the markets are falling.

Tune in here to find out more:

Top Stocks in Focus Today

Reliance Industries will be among the buzzing stocks today.

The retail arm of Reliance Industries (RIL) - Reliance Retail Ventures has acquired online furniture and home decor store Urban Ladder as it seeks to expand its offerings and digital footprint.

Reliance Retail Ventures bought 96% stake in Urban Ladder for Rs 1.8 billion, RIL said in a statement, adding it has the option to acquire the remaining stake and plans to invest Rs 750 million in it by December 2023.

HDFC Asset Management Company will also be in focus today as the company, on November 16, appointed Navneet Munot as the Managing Director & CEO of the company. He will succeed the present Managing Director Milind Barve.

Navneet Munot is currently the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at the SBI mutual fund company, where he has worked for twelve years.

Market participants will also be tracking telecom stocks today as shares of telecom service providers were in focus amid hopes of tariff hike in the forthcoming months.

Among individual stocks, Vodafone Idea share price rallied 12% to Rs 10.20 yesterday after media report suggested that Vi is considering increasing tariffs 15-20% by the end of the year or early next year. Reports state that this is on the expected lines as Vodafone Idea is struggling with cash burn and aiming fund raise.

Bharti Airtel share price also shot up to its highest level yesterday since September 21, 2020.

WPI Inflation at Eight-Month High in October

In news from the economic space, the wholesale price-based inflation rose to an eight-month high of 1.48% in October, as manufactured products turned costlier.

This is the highest level of Wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation since February when it was 2.26%.

While food article prices softened in October, manufactured items witnessed hardening of prices, according to data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Monday.

Food inflation in October stood at 6.37%, as against 8.17% in the previous month.

The rate of price rise in vegetables and potato remained high at 25.23% and 107.70%, respectively, during the month.

Note that last week, the RBI in a report on the state of economy had flagged unrelenting pressure of inflation as a downside risk confronting the prospects of economic recovery.

How the above numbers show up in coming months remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space.

LIC IPO: FinMin Invites Bids from Acturial Firms for Valuing LIC

In news from the finance sector, the finance ministry on Monday invited bids from actuarial firms for arriving at the embedded value of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) ahead of its stake sale.

The government is planning to sell minority stake in LIC and list it on the bourses. It has already appointed Deloitte and SBI Caps as pre-IPO transaction advisors.

In the bid notice, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said LIC needs to develop an Indian Embedded Value (IEV) reporting framework for necessary disclosures for the proposed initial public offering (IPO).

Embedded value is a common valuation measure used to estimate the consolidated value of shareholders' interest in an insurance company.

The last date for submission of bids is December 8.

The government has budgeted to collect Rs 2.10 trillion from stake sales this fiscal. This includes Rs 1.20 trillion from CPSE disinvestment and Rs 900 billion from selling stake in financial institutions.

So far this fiscal, the government has been able to mop up Rs 61.4 billion from CPSE disinvestment.

Stay tuned to stay updated on all the latest developments from this space.

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Indian Share Market Update: Top Gainers and Losers

What else is happening in the markets today? Dig in...