Markets close with modest gains; Sensex rises 385 points & Nifty trades at 17,073

Domestic equity benchmarks ended with modest gains on Thursday, December 23, 2021. The Sensex climbed above 57,000 while the Nifty was up above the 17,000 level. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 384.72 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 57,315.28. The Nifty 50 index gained 117.15 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 17,072.60. In the sectoral indices at NSE, the Nifty Bank closed 161.65 points, or 0.46 per cent, higher at 35,191.15.

The broader markets underperformed the Sensex at the BSE with S&P BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap closing 1.01 per cent and 0.73 per cent higher, respectively.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2195 shares rose and 1125 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at the NSE, 35 shares advanced and 15 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Power Grid (up 3.67 per cent), IOC (up 3.03 per cent), ONGC (up 2.70 per cent), ITC (up 2.55 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (up 2.18 per cent). The Divi's Laboratories (down 1.76 per cent), JSW Steel (down 1.66 per cent), Bharti Airtel (down 0.84 per cent), Sun Pharma (down 0.78 per cent) and UltraTech Cement (down 0.75 per cent).

The NSE's VIX index, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 4.55 per cent to 15.83.

MedPlus Health Services Listing: Shares of the pharmacy retailer Medplus Health Services made a strong debut on the bourses as the scrip was listed at Rs 1,040 on NSE, a premium of 30.65 per cent, over its issue price of Rs 796. On BSE, the counter is listed at Rs 1,015, a premium of 27.51% over the issue price. At the close, the shares of the pharmacy retailer closed at Rs 1,120 per share at the NSE, a premium of 40.70% against the issue price of Rs 796. On the BSE, it was listed at Rs 1,120.85 per share, a premium of 40.81 per cent against the issue price.

The Rs 1,398 crore IPO of Medplus Health Services was open for subscription between December 13-15, 2021. The company sold its shares in the range of Rs 780-796 per share. The initial public offering (IPO) of MedPlus Health closed with 52.59 times subscription in of which the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 111.9 times while the Non-Institutional Investors (NII) and Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) portions were subscribed 85.33 times and 5.24 times, respectively. The portion reserved for employees was subscribed 3.05 times.

CMS Info Systems IPO: The initial public offering (IPO) of CMS Info Systems Limited, India's largest cash management company in terms of the number of ATM points and retail pick-up points, closed with a 1.95 per cent subscription on Thursday, December 23, 2021. The Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) portion was subscribed 1.98 times, while the Non-Institutional Investors (NII) and Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) portions were subscribed 1.45 times and 2.15 times, respectively. The company seeks to raise Rs 1,100 crore from the initial public offer and the initial share is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) by the promoters and existing shareholders. The shares of the company will be available for bidding in a price band of Rs 205-216 per share. Retail investors can bid for the public offer for a minimum of 69 equity shares worth Rs 1,93,752, and in multiples thereof up to 13 lots.

 Economy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launching of 27 developmental projects worth over Rs 2000 crore including laying of the foundation stone for 'Banas Dairy Sankul' in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi. PM laid the foundation stone of 'Banas Dairy Sankul' at Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority Food Park at Karkhiyaon in Varanasi. Spread across 30 acres of land, the Dairy will be built at a cost of about Rs 475 crore and will have a facility for processing five lakh litres of milk per day. He also laid the foundation stone for the Bio-gas based Electricity generation plant for the Milk Producers Cooperative Union Plant at Ramnagar in Varanasi.

On the occasion, he said that the white revolution can play important role in increasing the income of farmers that is why our double engine government is continuously supporting the farmers in the dairy sector.

US economic growth slowed in the third quarter amid a flare-up in COVID-19 infections, the government confirmed on Wednesday. GDP increased at a 2.3 per cent annualised rate, the Commerce Department said in its third reading of GDP growth for the July-September quarter.

The UK economy has recovered from the pandemic faster than previously thought despite a downgrade to growth in the three months through September. The Office for National Statistics said GDP is now 1.5 per cent smaller than at the end of 2019, an improvement on its previously estimated shortfall of 2.1 per cent. Upgrades to output throughout 2020 and early 2021 leave the economy better placed to absorb the shock of any new restrictions to slow the spread of the omicron variant of Coronavirus. GDP grew 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, slower than the previous estimate of 1.3 per cent.