Indian Indices End Flat; Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Bajaj Auto Among Top Nifty Gainers

Fri, 18 Dec Closing | Monish Vora, TM Team

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Indian share markets witnessed some buying in the last hour of trading and ended their session marginally higher today.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 70 points (up 0.2%).

The NSE Nifty ended up by 19 points (up 0.1%).

Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers today.

IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, was among the top losers today.

SGX Nifty was trading at 13,782, up by 38 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended down by 0.4%. The BSE Small Cap index ended down by 0.2%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with IT stocks and pharma stocks witnessing maximum buying interest and rising more than 1% each.

Telecom sector stocks, on the other hand, witnessed most selling.

Asian share markets ended on a negative note with the Nikkei ending down by 0.2% and the Hang Seng ending down by 0.7%.

The rupee is trading at 73.54 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX were trading down by 0.4% at Rs 50,204 per 10 grams.

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Speaking of stock markets, note that since the lows in March 2020, the smallcap index has gained 98%.

While caution is indeed warranted, Richa Agrawal, Research Analyst at Equitymaster, thinks there is still a lot more steam left to this smallcap rally.

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Here's what she wrote in a recent edition of

• For one, the gap between Sensex and smallcap index is still huge.
  
  In January 2018, the smallcap to Sensex ratio was 0.57 times, versus a long term average of 0.44 times.
  
  At present, this ratio stands at 0.37 times, well below the long-term average.
  
  The possibility of a convergence between growth and value is a lot higher in the smallcap space, than in the large caps.
  
  And then here are some other interesting facts.
  
  Historically, the smallcap index, after a sharp correction, has risen up to 300%.
  
  So far, the smallcap index is up 98% since March. If you have not joined this rally yet, it might still not be too late.

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Moving on to stock specific news...

Borosil Renewables was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Solar glass maker Borosil Renewables said it has raised Rs 2 billion by issuing 1.58 crore shares through qualified institutional placement (QIP).

The issue opened on December 14, 2020, and closed on December 17, the company added.

BRL allotted 1,58,04,030 shares of the face value of rupee one each at Rs 126.55 per share. Post the QIP issue, the holding of promoter and promoter group will be 61.92%.

The funds raised will be utilised by BRL to service its capital expenditure requirements for a brownfield expansion to more than double its solar glass production capacity -- from 450 tonnes per day (TPD) to 950 TPD.

BRL is engaged in the manufacturing of low iron solar glass for application in photovoltaic panels, solar thermal flat plate collectors and greenhouses and is the only solar glass manufacturer in India.

The company commissioned its first solar glass manufacturing facility at Bharuch in Gujarat. It services India's solar panel manufacturers while simultaneously exporting its products to Europe, Turkey and North America.

In news from the IT sector, shares of IT companies witnessed huge buying interest today with sector heavyweights Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys hitting their respective record highs, after Accenture reported better-than-expected results for the quarter ending November 30.

Acceture's revenue at US$ 11.8 billion, up 2% year-on-year (YoY) on constant currency terms, was well above its guidance and street's estimate.

EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin at 16.1% was driven by lower travel cost and increased utilization. Sequentially, margin was up 300 basis points to 93%, the highest in a decade.

The company reported new deal wins of US$ 12.9 billion, up 25% YoY, in a seasonally low quarter.

For all of fiscal 2021, Accenture now sees revenue growth of between 4% and 6%, up from a previous forecast range of up 2% to 5% all in local currency.

IT stocks including Coforge, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, HCL Technologies, Wipro and Tech Mahindra gained in the range of 1-3%.

Infosys share price gained 3% while TCS share price rose 2%.

Country's largest software exporter TCS was also in focus today as its Rs 160-billion share buyback offer opened today.

TCS has decided to buyback up to 5,33,33,333 equity shares and the floor price for this offer has been fixed at Rs 3,000 per share.

The offer will close on January 1, 2021.

This is the third share buyback offer from the company after August 2018 and May 2017.

Note that the buyback is to be made under the tender offer route, and is open to all eligible shareholders of the company holding equity shares either in physical or electronic form, as on the record date which is November 28.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

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

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Indian Share Market Update: Top Gainers and Losers

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