Nifty 50 closed at 21,255.05 (104.9, 0.5%), BSE Sensex closed at 70,865.10 (358.8, 0.5%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 18,941.80 (162.4, 0.9%), of the 2,005 stocks traded today, 1,575 showed gains, and 401 showed losses.

Indian indices maintained the gains from the afternoon session and closed in the green, with the Nifty 50 closing at 21,255. The volatility index, Nifty VIX, dropped by 4.8% and closed at 13.8 points. Bandhan Bank approves the transfer of its non-performing asset (NPA) portfolio worth Rs 775.6 crore for a binding bid of Rs 280.4 crore from an asset reconstruction company (ARC).

Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 closed sharply higher following the benchmark index. Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Oil & Gas closed higher than Wednesday’s closing level. According to Trendlyne’s sector dashboard, fertilizers emerged as the top-performing sector of the day, with a rise of over 3.5%.

Most European indices trade in the red. US indices futures trade higher, indicating a positive start. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration in the US is in discussion to raise tariffs on imported electric vehicles from China.

• Money flow index (MFI) indicates that stocks like Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Varun Beverages, Voltas and Bharat Dynamics are in the overbought zone.

• Media stocks like TV18 Broadcast, Dish TV India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Nazara Technologies surge more than 3% in trade. The broader Nifty Media index is also trading more than 2% higher.

• Natco Pharma rises as it is dismissed from an anti-trust lawsuit in the USA regarding its Pomalidomide drug. The company appears in a screener of stocks with improving book value per share.

• Bhanu Prakash Srivastava, CMD of Bharat Electronics, highlights that the company's order inflow stands at Rs 23,300 crore so far, with additional orders in the pipeline. He adds that the company maintains its FY24 revenue growth and margin guidance of 15% and 21-23%, respectively.

  #OnCNBCTV18 | Expect to cross ?25,000 cr order inflow in #FY24. Stick to 15% #revenue growth #guidance for FY24 & Maintain margin guidance of 21-23%, says Bhanu Prakash Srivastava of Bharat Electronics pic.twitter.com/R9kRNXytoS

  — CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 21, 2023

• Bandhan Bank's board of directors approves the transfer of its non-performing asset (NPA) portfolio worth Rs 775.6 crore, for a binding bid of Rs 280.4 crore from an asset reconstruction company (ARC). The bank will transfer the NPA portfolio with unpaid dues over 180 days to the ARC.

• Credo Brands Marketing's Rs 549.8 crore IPO gets bids for 20.8X the available 1.4 crore shares on offer on the third day of bidding. The retail investor quota gets bids for 15.8X the available 68.7 lakh shares on offer.

• RBZ Jewellers' Rs 100 crore IPO gets bids for 11.1X the available 79 lakh shares on offer on the third day of bidding. The retail investor quota gets bids for 20X the available 35 lakh shares on offer.

• Vidyashankar Krishnan, VC and MD of M M Forgings, says the company has lowered its FY24 revenue guidance to around Rs 1,600-1,620 crore, compared to the earlier Rs 1,700 crore. He attributes it to sluggishness in exports and adds that the margins will be around 18%.

  MM Forgings says
  
  FY24 Guidance ???? Revenues around ?1620 cr with steady margins
  
  FY25 Guidance ???? Revenues at ?1800-2000cr with margins around 20%#StockMarketindia #Niftyhttps://t.co/qZtt9Oe4Kn

  — Nigel D'Souza (@Nigel__DSouza) December 21, 2023

• Happy Forgings' Rs 1,008.6 crore IPO gets bids for 22.8X the available 83.7 lakh shares on offer on the third day of bidding. The retail investor quota gets bids for 11.9X the available 42.4 lakh shares on offer.

• State Bank of India is rising as it signs a €200 million (approx. Rs 1,823.6 crore) line of credit with the European Investment Bank to support its climate action projects in India.

• Manali Petrochemicals surges more than 5% as it resumes entire operations of Plant 2 in Manali, and has also initiated partial operations at Plant 1. The company is working on restoring the other manufacturing units at Plant 1.

• The RBI predicts healthy growth for India's economy. However, it highlights that sticky inflation is impacting consumer demand and poses risk to growth. It expects inflation to average at 5.4% in FY24

  India’s economy will continue to expand but sticky #inflation has become the main risk to growth, says #RBI.
  
  Read more ??https://t.co/G7VHvHYgBp

  — NDTV Profit (@NDTVProfitIndia) December 21, 2023

• UltraTech Cement is rising as it agrees to buy a 26% stake in Clean Max Terra for a consideration of Rs 20.3 crore to meet its green energy needs.

• Zee Entertainment Enterprises surges more than 4% as Culver Max Entertainment (formerly Sony India) and Bangla Entertainment agree to enter negotiations to discuss the extension of the date required to make the merger effective.

• Suzlon Energy surges more than 4% as it secures a repeat order to supply and commission 92 wind turbines with a total capacity of 193.2 MW from the KP Group. The order is part of a wind-solar hybrid and State Transmission Utility (STU) tariff-based project aimed at increasing renewable energy capacity in Gujarat.

• Saurabh Gupta, CFO of Dixon Technologies, anticipates that the mobile segment will drive growth for the company, contributing to 60-65% of its revenues moving forward. He also expects an improvement in its RoCE.

  Expects incremental turnover of Rs.1,500 in FY25 & Rs.4,000-4,500 cr in FY26: Saurabh Gupta, CFO, Dixon Tech @DixonTech_India pic.twitter.com/GL5XZyaToz

  — ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) December 21, 2023

• Sapphire Foods Mauritius, promoter of Sapphire Foods India, has sold a 5.2% stake in the company. It now holds a 24% stake.

• Inox India’s shares debut on the bourses at a 43.9% premium to the issue price of Rs 660. The Rs 1,459.3 crore IPO has received bids for 61.3 times the total shares on offer.

• Tarsons Products rises as it will be acquiring Germany's medical distributor Nerbe for €10 to 15 million (approx Rs 91.1 to 136.7 crore). With this acquisition, the company aims to enhance its presence in Germany. The company appears in a screener of stocks with growing net profit and margins.

• Ami Organics is falling as reports suggest that 46 lakh shares (12.5% equity), amounting to Rs 475.2 crore, change hands in a large trade.

  #AmiOrganics #LargeTrade | 46 lk shares (12.5% equity) worth ? 475.2 cr change hands a ? 1,031/sh pic.twitter.com/zz014pjBAk

  — CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 21, 2023

• Promoters of Astral, Saumya Polymers and Kairav Chemicals, sell 1.4% and 0.4% stake, respectively, in block deals on Wednesday.

• Sunil Singhania buys a 6.7% stake in Shriram Pistons & Rings in bulk deals and a 7.9% stake through block deals on Wednesday.

• Cochin Shipyard rises as it receives an order worth Rs 488.2 crore from the Defence Ministry. The order involves the repair and maintenance of equipment and systems onboard the naval vessel. The company appears in a screener of stocks with improving net cash flow for the past two years.

• Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders rises as it bags an order worth Rs 1,615 crore from the Ministry of Defence. The order involves the construction of six offshore patrol vessels for the Indian Coast Guard to be completed in the next 5 years.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd. (98.85, 6.92%), Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd. (868.25, 6.51%) and Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. (571.40, 6.21%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Indian Bank (412.85, -3.93%), Supreme Industries Ltd. (4,463.75, -3.75%) and Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd. (512.35, -2.04%).

Volume Rockets

12 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Shyam Metalics and Energy Ltd. (571.90, 9.75%), Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. (1,709.50, 7.25%) and Chemplast Sanmar Ltd. (510.60, 6.39%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Indian Bank (412.85, -3.93%), IIFL Finance Ltd. (595.15, -3.89%) and Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd. (359.80, -1.59%).

AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd. (4,750.00, 2.90%) was trading at 10.6 times of weekly average. Aptus Value Housing Finance India Ltd. (327.80, 1.06%) and SKF India Ltd. (4,699.75, 1.19%) were trading with volumes 5.8 and 5.0 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

8 stocks made 52 week highs,

Stocks touching their year highs included - Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. (1,092.15, 5.75%), Cyient Ltd. (2323.30, 5.53%) and Fortis Healthcare Ltd. (397.85, 1.56%).

10 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Delhivery Ltd. (387.95, 6.19%) and GMM Pfaudler Ltd. (1,609.10, 3.21%). 18 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Dabur India Ltd. (530.25, -0.88%) and Jamna Auto Industries Ltd. (105.85, -0.66%).