Expect market to open flat with a negative bias

The equity markets are expected to open on a flat note on Wednesday with a slight downward bias as the Asian markets and SGX Nifty are ruling in the red. The SGX Nifty is ruling two points lower at 14,230 at 815 am (IST). The NSE Nifty closed firm at 14,199.50 on Tuesday, while the Nifty Jan futures ended at 14,216.50. The BSE Sensex closed at 48,437.78, thanks to heavy lifting by foreign institutional investors.

Asian markets are also down with major country indices such as Nikkei , Shanghai, Hang Seng, SGX slipping by about 0.3 per cent. Even as the US markets last night closed in the green with a gain of over 0.5 per cent, all the major futures of US indices are currently in the negative.

“Nifty has risen for the tenth consecutive session and has closed at almost 14,200 as expected. The momentum is still strong and a further upside is (more in the broader market than the index) likely over the next few days,” Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Stocks to Watch

ACC Ltd shares may see a positive bias on Tuesday as it has announced the successful commissioning of its new Grinding Unit (GU) at Sindri in Jharkhand effective January 2, 2021. The new facility will add 1.4 tpa capacity to the existing 3.0 tpa unit, taking the total capacity at Sindri to 4.4 tpa.

The foundation stone of Sindri GU-phase II was laid in December 2019 to address the growing market, strengthen its presence in the eastern region and for value addition. This facility will manufacture low CO2, environment-friendly, cement products.

BEML has received orders from the Defence Ministry for supply of high mobility vehicles for about Rs 758 crore. These vehicles would play a key role in the Army’s logistics management. The equipment will be manufactured at BEML’s Palakkad plant in Kerala and would be supplied to the Indian Army over a period of one year.

Container Corporation of India’sLtd L: disinvestment process will keep Concor shares in focus as the Government is exploring the possibility of the merger of its subsidiaries i.e. Concor Air Ltd, Sidcul Concor Infra Company Ltd and Punjab Logistics Infrastructure Ltd with itself. An e-tender is being floated to engage an External Management Consultant to facilitate the proposed merger. This process will speed up the Centre’s disinvestment move to sell about 30 per cent stake in the company.

HDFC Bank on Tuesday said its total advances rose 4 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 10.82 lakh crore in Q3 and rose 16 per cent year-on-year. The private bank’s deposits rose 3 per cent q-o-q to Rs 12.7 lakh crore, but were up 19 per cent year-on-year. The CASA ratio stood at 43 per cent as on December 31, compared with 41.6 per cent in September.

InterGlobe Aviation shares will be in focus with IndiGo receiving approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to operate its Pratt & Whitney-powered Airbus A320neo fleet on longer overseas routes or as EDTO (extended diversion time operations) flights.

IRCON International has informed the exchanges that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ircon Davanagere Haveri Highway, has refunded its Rs 326.72-crore loan.

Lloyds Metals and Energy has received mega project status for its Rs 1,000-crore expansion project at Ghugus, Chandrapur, from the Maharashtra Government.

Maharashtra Seamless in a notice to the stock exchanges has said it is taking necessary steps to ensure resumption of normal working at its corporate office in Gurugram, where a fire accident occurred on January 5.

TIPS Industries’ board on Tuesday considered and in-principal agreed to explore the de-merger of its film business into a separate entity. The de-merger committee will appoint a valuer, merchant banker for fairness opinion and other intermediaries for this purpose. The board on receipt of the valuation report will study, discuss and initiate the next steps, it informed the stock exchanges.

COMMENT NOW