After opening the day lower, the Indian benchmark fell further as the session progressed and ended the day lower.Benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 ended the week’s first trading session in the negative territory.At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed lower by 450 points (down 0.6%).Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 168 points (down 0.7%).Adani Enterprises, HCL Tech, and Sun Pharma are among the top gainers today.Hindalco, Trent, and ONGC on the other hand, were among the top losers today.The GIFT Nifty was trading at 23,801, down by 161 points at the time of writing.The BSE MidCap index ended marginally higher and the BSE SmallCap index ended 0.5% lower.Sectoral indices were trading mixed today with stocks in the telecom sector, IT sector, and FMCG sector witnessing buying. Meanwhile, stocks in the metal sector and realty sector witnessing selling pressure.Coforge, CRISIL, and Lupin hit their respective 52-week highs today.The rupee is trading at 85.53 against the US$.Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading marginally lower at Rs 76,479 per 10 grams.Meanwhile, silver prices were trading flat at Rs 88,880 per 1 kg.
Why Greaves Cotton Share Price is RisingIn news from the engineering sector, shares of Greaves Cotton surged up to 12% on 30 December before paring some gains, after 4.3 m shares, or 1.9% of equity, worth Rs 1.3 bn changed hands at an average price of about Rs 312 per share.One of its subsidiaries, Greaves Electric Mobility (GEML) had recently filed a draft prospectus for a Rs 10 bn public issue.The IPO includes a fresh issue of Rs 10 bn and an Offer for Sale (OFS) of up to 189.4 m shares by existing promoters and shareholders.Veteran market investor Vijay Kedia had recently bought 12 lakh shares of Greaves Cotton, which amounts to a 0.5% stake, for Rs 250 m through a block deal on 9 December. This is the first time the market veteran has taken a bet on the company, and the news comes after the approval for the IPO of subsidiary GEML.Greaves Cotton has a market capitalization of over Rs 72 bn, and the shares have doubled in 2024.Greaves Cotton is transitioning from a traditional engine company to a fuel-agnostic mobility solutions provider, with multiple revenue streams.
IOL Chemicals Surge 5%
Moving on to news from the chemical sector, shares of IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals surged over 5% on 30 December as investors lapped up the stock after the board greenlit the proposal for a five-for-one stock split.Shareholders will get five shares for each share they currently own.This also marks the first stock split in the company’s history. IOL Chemicals is yet to announce the record date for this stock split.The upmove was also driven by heavy trading volumes. So far, nine lakh shares of the company have changed hands, already higher than the one month daily traded average of seven lakh shares.
Vodafone Idea Rises Over 5%Moving on to news from the telecom sector, shares of Vodafone Idea rose over 5% on 30 December as the government waived bank guarantees for past spectrum auctions.The telecom firm has been exempted from providing bank guarantees worth Rs 248 bn for spectrum auctions held before 2021 (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016).In a 28 December filing, the company termed the government reform as a “big relief for telecom companies”.The company added that prior to this reform, bank guarantees aggregating to Rs 248 bn were required to be provided by the company against each spectrum installment, 13 months prior to the installment falling due for the above auctions.
Cigniti Tech Shares Fall over 6%Moving on to news from the tech sector, shares of Cigniti Technologies were trading over 6% lower on 30 December, days after the company announced the merger swap ratio of 1 share of Coforge for every 5 shares of Cigniti Tech.Share swap transactions will lead to a 4% dilution in Coforge equity shares.The merged entity will create 3 new scaled-up verticals- Retail, Technology, and Healthcare.The boards of both companies approved the merger plan at their respective meetings on 27 December.Cigniti is in the business of Quality and Digital engineering services for global clients, with a delivery center in India.Coforge acquired Cigniti to expand its capabilities in digital assurance and engineering services in the retail, healthcare, and hi-tech verticals.
