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Sensex Trades Marginally Higher; Dow Futures Up By 170 Points
Tue, 29 Dec 12:30 pm

Share markets in India are presently trading marginally higher.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 140 points, up 0.3% at 47,494 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 31 points.

IndusInd Bank and Tech Mahindra are among the top gainers today. Hindalco and NTPC are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.1%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading flat

On the sectoral front, stocks from the metal sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

On the other hand, stocks from the finance sector are witnessing most of the buying interest.

US stock futures are trading higher today, indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices.

Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 45 points (up 0.5%) while Dow Futures are trading up by 170 points (up 0.6%).

The rupee is trading at 73.37 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 49,965 per 10 grams.

In global markets, gold prices were slightly higher after US President Donald Trump approved a stimulus package.

Amid mixed global cues, gold prices in India traded in a narrow range for the sixth day. On MCX, February gold futures were up 0.1% to Rs 50,067 per 10 grams.

Note that in the previous five sessions, gold has remained in the Rs 50,000 to Rs 50,500 range.

To know more about gold, check out our article on how to invest in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Speaking of the stock market, Rahul Shah, Co-Head of Research at Equitymaster, talks about his preferred portfolio for 2021 and beyond, in his latest video for Views on News.

In the video below, Rahul shares his portfolio strategy and the important principles one needs to keep in mind in order to build a market beating portfolio.

Tune in here to find out more:

Moving on to stock specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks today is Punjab National Bank.

Leading public sector bank Punjab National Bank (PNB), has successfully completed the IT integration of all branches of erstwhile United Bank of India.

This is in continuation to the IT integration of all branches of erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce, undertaken in November 2020.

With this PNB has concluded the integration and migration of databases of both banks, which brings all the customers on a common platform and enables them to transact seamlessly across the banks' network as well as PNB's digital banking platforms like internet banking and mobile banking.

The entire migration has been completed without affecting any change in customers account numbers, debit cards or net banking credentials.

PNB has completed this migration activity with minimal disruption and now all customers will be able to enjoy an array of services on its wider network of branches, ATMs and robust digital channels.

On this accomplishment, MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank, Shri CH.S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao, said, "This is an important milestone for all of us displaying our unflinching commitment to the customers of PNB 2.0. This migration brings all our customers on a singular platform and provides an opportunity for seamless engagement. We shall continue to provide state-of-the-art services to all our customers."

At the time of writing, Punjab National Bank share price was trading up by 2.8% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the energy sector...

VoltUp Partners With Hindustan Petroleum To Set Up 50 Battery Swapping Centres

Electric two and three-wheeler battery swapping solutions start-up VoltUp said it has partnered with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) for opening battery swapping centres.

As a result of the partnership, the company is looking to open 50 battery swapping solutions centres across India in the next six months. The first two centres have been unveiled in Jaipur.

With this tie-up, VoltUp aims at providing infrastructure for instant swapping to end consumers, shared mobility providers, and logistic players with smart lithium-ion batteries in a connected environment friendly manner.

The partnership aims at leveraging the countrywide network of HPCL, technological advancements of VoltUp in the field of battery swapping technologies, and shared synergies of improving the urban mobility by keeping it at pace with the conventional usage system.

Commenting on the partnership, VoltUp CEO Siddharth Kabra said, "HPCL, an already active player in the electric vehicles (EV) segment, recognizes the importance of swapping infrastructure which is in sync with their current model of instant fueling."

In addition, HPCL Executive Director, Rajnish Mehta said there is an industry consensus that the Indian EV market will be dominated and driven by the 2-3-wheeler commercial segment. For this segment, battery swapping offers the best alternative to slow charging and helps the drivers to make optimum use of their operational hours.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned

Speaking of electric vehicles, note that the power ministry has approved setting up 2,636 electric vehicle charging stations across 62 cities in 24 states.


Co-Head of Research at Equitymaster, Tanushree Banerjee also wrote about electric vehicles in one of her editions of Profit Hunter:

  • 106 public and private entities have approached the government for permissions to set up about 7,000 EV charging stations.

    This clearly shows the vehicle manufacturers have enough incentive to capture this latent demand.

    The tax benefit in terms of a lower GST rate (at 5%) is a further shot in the arm of the EV industry.

As per Tanushree, electric vehicles are very much on their way to invading Indian roads. The threat of disruption in this era is something you cannot ignore.

Tanushree believes that companies manufacturing lithium ion batteries for powering electric cars will be a key catalyst for the Rebirth of India.

How rebirth of India pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary


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