📈 Domestic benchmark indices closed on a bearish note after the volatile session on 20 December 2024. 📢 At 3:30 PM, the Sensex tanked by 1176.46 points or 1.49% at 78,041.59, and the Nifty ended lower by 364.20 points or 1.52% at 23,587.50. 📊Among sectoral indices, Nifty Pharma (⬇️0.86%), Nifty Midcap 100 (⬇️2.82%), and Nifty Bank (⬇️1.58%) witnessed considerable selling pressure.

Gujarat based specialty chemicals maker Aether Industries Limited is planning to hit the markets soon with a qualified institutional placement (QIP) offering through which the company intends to raise around Rs 1,200 crore-1,300 crore, people aware of the development told Moneycontrol. The company is working with investment banks JM Financial, DAM Capital and UBS on the fundraise, they added.

The Indian equity markets remained resilient for a major part of the CY 2024, navigating through various challenges like sticky inflation, weaker-than-expected Q2FY25 earnings, general election outcomes, FII outflows, and geopolitical uncertainty. The Indian benchmark indices, the Nifty 50 and Sensex, have delivered positive returns of 9% and 8.5%, respectively, in 2024 so far.

Standard Capital Markets on Friday, Dec 20, informed through an exchange filing on the BSE that its board of directors approved the issuance of NCDs on a private placement basis for ₹15 crore. "The board of directors of the company in its meeting held on Dec 20, has approved the allotment of 1,500 unrated, unlisted, secured NCDs of face value of ₹1,00,000 each at an issue price of ₹1,00,000."

Praveg Ltd., the luxury hospitality services provider, has signed a strategic inventory agreement with Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd., the company said in an exchange filing on Friday, December 20. The three-year partnership will be across prime destinations like Daman, Diu and Ayodhya. As per the agreement, Mahindra Holidays will secure a total of 70 rooms, across select properties.

JSW Infrastructure (JSWIL), India’s second largest private port player, is well positioned to capture opportunities arising from the GoI thrust on infrastructure spending & privatisation of port terminals. The company’s ambitious plan to achieve 400mtpa capacity by FY30E (16% CAGR over FY24-30E) is aligned with GoI’s target to 4x India’s existing ports capacity (2,600mtpa) to 10,000mtpa by FY47E.

Shares of LTIMindtree Ltd., recently excluded from the Nifty 50 index fell another 6% on Friday. With this the stock is down for the fourth day running. Shares had declined 5.5% on Thu as well. With this fall, the stock is down 13% so far for the week and is set to snap a six-week gaining streak. With weekly drop, LTIMindtree shares have erased all the gains they made during the last six weeks.

RBL Bank shares extended their freefall to the seventh consecutive session after losing another 7 percent on December 20. In these seven sessions, the stock has shed 16 percent of its value. At 2.30 pm, shares of RBL Bank were trading at Rs 152.35 on the NSE. Meanwhile, the stock also exited the F&O bank list today and consequently, witnessed a spike in trading volumes in the counter.

Dealmakers expect the momentum for new share sales in India, now the world’s busiest market for initial public offerings, and Australia in 2025 will cushion the impact of sluggish Chinese deals in the Asia Pacific. The Mumbai-based National Stock Exchange outranked the bigger U.S. exchanges in the amounts raised by IPOs for the first time, driven by India’s robust economic growth.

Recently listed shares of One MobiKwik Systems fell by as much as 5.7% on Fri to Rs 510.30 on the BSE. This decline came as investors engaged in profit booking after sharp rally of 37% in previous 2 days following the fintech firm’s D-Street debut. MobiKwik, which listed on the stock exchanges on Wed at a 58.5% premium over its issue price of Rs 279, saw its shares open at Rs 442.25 on BSE.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in November to their fastest pace since March with home shoppers encouraged by a wider selection of properties on the market, even as mortgage rates mostly ticked higher. Existing home sales rose 4.8% last month, from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.15 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

The Indian stock market declined on Friday, with the Nifty 50 and Sensex falling by 1.09% and 1.01%, respectively, due to declines in IT and financial sectors and a withdrawal of foreign investments following the Federal Reserve's forecast of reduced rate cuts. Amid this, Prashanth Tapse recommends buying these three stocks in the short term - 📌Akums Drugs, 📌Premier Energies Ltd, and 📌BPCL.

Amid the relentless pace of technological advancement and changing consumer behaviours, food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy have carved out a substantial niche in the Indian market. The societal benefits of this growth are tangible, as these platforms have become a lifeline for employment in the gig economy. By providing job opportunities they are addressing unemployment issues.

Adani Enterprises shares fell over 1% despite the Bombay High Court upholding the tender awarded to Adani Group for the Dharavi redevelopment project, dismissing a petition by UAE-based Seclink Technologies Corporation. Adani Enterprises shares have fallen 5.5% in the last five trading sessions and 27% in the last six months.

Zerodha has launched the Margin Trading Facility (MTF) on its trading platform, Kite. The announcement was made through a blog post and a tweet by CEO Nithin Kamath on December 19, 2024. MTF allows investors to buy stocks for delivery using leverage, enabling purchases even without full upfront funds. Depending on the stock, users can borrow up to 80% of the trade value.