Markets jump over 1.50 pct; Sensex gains 1,016 points & Nifty crosses 17,450 as RBI keeps rate unchanged

Markets jump over 1.50 pct; Sensex gains 1,016 points & Nifty crosses 17,450 as RBI keeps rate unchanged

Equity benchmarks, S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50, on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, jumped more than one and a half per cent. Both stocks rose amid positive cues from the global equity markets. Reserve Bank of India's decision to maintain the status quo in key policy rates also helped benchmark indices propel sharply for the second straight session.

The Sensex climbed 1,016.03 points, or 1.76 per cent, to close at 58,649.68. The Nifty 50 index also surged 293.05 points, or 1.71 per cent, to 17,469.75. The Nifty Bank added 666.30 points, or 1.82 per cent, to end at 37,284.70.

In the broader market at BSE, the S&P BSE MidCap index surged 1.39 per cent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 1.50 per cent. All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2329 shares rose and 948 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at the NSE, 45 shares advanced and 5 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance (up 3.62 per cent), Maruti (up 3.19 per cent), Hindalco (up 3.14 per cent), State Bank of India (up 2.92 per cent) and Bajaj Finserv (up 2.87 per cent). The five losers were HDFC Life (down 1.17 per cent), Kotak Bank (down 0.78 per cent), Power Grid (down 0.34 per cent), Divi's Laboratories (down 0.32 per cent) and IOC (down 0.08 per cent).

IPO Update

RateGain Travel IPO: The initial public offering of RateGain Travel Technologies Limited, Noida-based distribution technology and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company, was subscribed 0.75 times by 5 pm at BSE on Wednesday, the second day for bidding for the public issue. The Non Institutional Investors (NII) and Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) portions were subscribed 0.08 times and 3.98 times respectively. The portion reserved for employees was subscribed 0.75 times. The three-day issue will conclude on Thursday, December 9, 2021.

The SaaS company has fixed a price band of Rs 405-425 per equity share. At the upper end of the price band, the initial share sale is expected to fetch Rs 1,335.73 crore. The retail investors can place a bid for a lot of 35 Equity Shares and in multiples thereof. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 375 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 2.26 crore equity shares by promoters and existing shareholders.

Shriram Properties Limited IPO: The initial public offering of Shriram Properties, a leading real estate developer and part of Shriram Group, was subscribed 0.89 times by 5 pm on Wednesday, the first day for bidding. The Non Institutional Investors (NII) and Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) portions were subscribed 0.04 times and 4.85 times respectively. The portion reserved for employees was subscribed 0.36 times. The three-day issue will conclude on Thursday, December 9, 2021.

The three-day initial share sale will conclude on Friday, December 10, 2021. The price band for the public issue has been fixed at Rs 113-118 per share for its Rs 600-crore initial share sale. The company is offering a discount of Rs 11 per equity share for the eligible employee's category. The issue has a reservation of equity shares worth Rs 3 crore for the company's employees.

The initial public offering comprises a fresh issue of Rs 250 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 350 crore by investors. Investors can bid for a minimum of 125 equity shares and in multiples of 125 equity shares thereafter.

Economy

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today maintained the status quo in key policy rates as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep the policy repo rate at four per cent to keep the stance accommodative. While announcing the Bi-monthly Policy, RBI Governor Shaktikant Das said, Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and bank rate will remain unchanged at 4.25 per cent.

The reverse repo rate will also remain unchanged at 3.35 per cent. He said, recent reductions in Excise Duty & State VAT on petrol and diesel should support consumption demand by increasing purchasing power.

While expressing satisfaction about the momentum to the economy, Mr Das said, government consumption is also picking up from August, providing support to aggregate demand. He said that the projection for real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is retained at 9.5 per cent in 2021-22, consisting of 6.6 per cent in the third quarter and six per cent in the fourth quarter. He pointed out that the real GDP growth is projected at 17.2 per cent for Q1 of 2022-23 and at 7.8 per cent for Q2 of 2022-23.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is projected at 5.3 per cent in 2021-22, which consists of 5.1 per cent in Q3, and 5.7 per cent in Q4 with risk broadly balanced. Mr Das also informed that RBI is planning to launch Unified Payment Interface (UPI)-based payment products for feature phone users.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has made an important announcement about the Unified Payment Interface facility while announcing the fourth bi-monthly policy review in Mumbai today. He said that in order to further deepen digital payments and make them more inclusive, it is proposed to launch UPI-based payment products for feature phone users.

The move is expected to ease transactions for consumers, facilitate greater participation of retail customers in various segments of financial markets and enhance the capacity of service providers. He also informed that the bank is also planning to make the process flow for small value transactions simpler through a mechanism of 'on-device' wallet in UPI applications.

The Central Bank will also enhance the transaction limit for payments through UPI for the Retail Direct Scheme for investment in G-secs and Initial Public Offering (IPO) applications from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.