Benchmark indices closed in red on Wednesday after a late sell off. Sensex fell by over 930 points to close at 70,506 while Nifty ended the day at 21,150. The bears prevailed after days of sustained rally helped both the indices cross record levels.
Analysts attributed the loss to a sell off sparked by profit booking. Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, noted in his analysis, "Domestic equities are witnessing sell off after a sharp run up of more than 12% in last seven weeks. We expect market to consolidate in the near term as investor resort to profit booking and access the potential risk of rising covid cases especially in Kerala and Karnataka, making them cautious in the market."
India's covid cases reached a seven month high as 614 cases were recorded on Wednesday. The new JN.1 variant of the virus has been discovered in Kerala which seems to have sparked fears of investors. However, WHO has noted that the risk to public health remains low from the new variant. The markets will open today on the back of a sharp sell off.
Here are the top stocks to watch on 21 December:
1) Zee Entertainment: Zee said on Wednesday that Sony agreed to discuss the extension of merger's deadline which was on December 21. The shares of the firm had fallen by over 6.74 per cent to close at Rs 253.40 on Wednesday.
2) Cochin Shipyard: The firm won a Rs 488 crore contract from defence ministry for ship repairing. The shares of the firm closed 6.11 per cent lower at Rs 1,228 on Wednesday.
3) Flair Writing: The company reported its Q2 results on Wednesday, with net profit at Rs 33 crore while revenue surged to Rs 257 crore. Its shares fell by 3.75 per cent to end the last trading session at Rs 357.10
4) REC: Suzlon Group signed an agreement for working capital facilities with the state run firm. REC also incorporated its subsidiary Kankani Power Transmission. Its share closed 7.48 per cent lower to close at Rs 402.60
5) UltraTech Cement: The company is set to buy a Rs 20.25 crore stake in Clean Max Terra. Its shares ended the last trading session at Rs 9898, 1.19 per cent lower than its previous close.
