Domestic equity benchmark ended near the day's high; BSE Sensex climbs 248 points & Nifty closes above 14,500 mark

Benchmark domestic stocks on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, gained half a per cent to hit fresh lifetime highs amid mixed global cues. The Sensex achieved 49,500 level for the first time while the Nifty closed above 14,500 mark.

PSU banks, auto and realty stocks rallied while IT, pharma and FMCG shares declined. Positive Asian cues and robust FII inflows boosted sentiment.

The BSE Sensex climbed 247.79 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 49,517.11 and the NSE Nifty rose 78.90 points, or 0.54 per cent, to trade at 14,563.45. The Nifty Bank gained 340.10 points, or 1.06 per cent, and closed higher at 32,339.

In the broader market at BSE, Mid-cap and Small-cap indices underperformed the Sensex. The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.44 per cent while the BSE Small-Cap index added 0.25 per cent.

On the BSE, 1687 shares rose and 1403 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 28 shares advanced and 22 declined. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 block were Tata Motors (up 7.52 per cent), GAIL (up 4.68 per cent), Bharti Airtel (up 3.95 per cent), State Bank of India (up 3.79 per cent) and Coal India (up 3.60 per cent). The top five losers were Asian Paint (down 3.24 per cent), Titan (down 2.17 per cent), Nestle India (down 2.13 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.99 per cent) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (down 1.78 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 9,08,94,797 with 19,44,754 deaths. India reported 2,16,558 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 1,51,327 deaths while 1,01,11,294 patients have been discharged.

RBI's financial stability report

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, in his foreword for the financial stability report released on Monday, said: "Stretched valuations of financial assets pose risks to financial stability. Banks and financial intermediaries need to be cognizant of these risks and spillovers in an interconnected financial system."

The financial stability report has also warned that banks' bad loans may double by September 2021. The RBI sees gross bad loans account for 13.5% of total loans by September even in a base case scenario.

The RBI expects banks' capital ratios will erode to 14% in September from 15.6 per cent in September 2020, the report showed. This may worsen to 12.5 per cent in a very severe stress scenario, under which nine banks may fall short of meeting the minimum capital requirement of 9 per cent.

Trump Issues Emergency Declaration In Washington DC

President Donald Trump on Monday reportedly approved an emergency declaration for Washington that lasts through January 24, 2021, after authorities warned of security threats to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration next week. In the US, House Democrats are preparing to impeach Donald Trump even though the president has less than two weeks left in his term. After the siege of the US Capitol building by Trump supporters last week, Democrats are concerned about additional incitement by the president in his final days in office.