FIRST TRADE: Bulls take D-Street to fresh peaks; Nifty tops 21,550 for first time ever, Sensex jumps over 400 pts

Stock market today: Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 scaled fresh record highs on Wednesday, December 20, driven by broad-based buying on Dalal Street. The Sensex and the Nifty touched lifetime highs of 71,850.7 and 21,570, respectively. The 30-scrip index was last up 394.5 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 71,831.7 while the Nifty was up 115 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 21,568.1 in early deals. The Nifty Bank was up 0.4 per cent at 48,081.8.

Globally, Asian markets rose after China followed Japan in keeping interest rates unchanged. 

"Even as the holidays are fast approaching, the market is not in a holiday mood. It is consolidating but at higher levels. The steady rise in the mother market US, which has helped the Dow to set a new record high, is exhibiting the same trend. The fact that the fear gauge - VIX - is at a low level of 12 is an indicator of the underlying strength of the market," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Vijayakumar expects a fresh bout of buying in the New Year. 

Broader indices Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 were up half a per cent at the last count. 

BUZZING STOCKS

• Varun Beverages shares soared over 12 per cent on BSE after the company announced the acquisition of South Africa-based The Beverage Company at an enterprise value of Rs 1,320 crore.
• Deepak Nitrite shares rose over four per cent after the board of its subsidiary, Deepak Phenotics, approved the execution of a binding term sheet with Petronet LNG Limited (PLL)
• Delhivery shares gained over two per cent after brokerage Macquarie iterated its 'outperform' rating on the logistics solution provider with a target price of Rs 520.
• Salasar Techno Engineering shares rose over two per cent ahead of its board meeting, due later in the day, to consider a bonus share issue. 
• Nippon Life India Asset Management shares jumped over six per cent amid buzz about a block deal worth Rs 760 crore in the stock. 
• Transformers and Rectifiers (India) shares gained over two per cent after the company secured orders of transformers for a total contract of Rs 118 crore.
• RVNL shares were up over one per cent after the KRDCL-RVNL joint venture emerged the lowest bidder (L1) for Varkala Sivagiri Railway Station.

GLOBAL MARKETS 

Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher on Wednesday as the US rate cut fever lingered near the year's end, while oil held onto gains from the past two days after attacks by Houthi militants on ships in the Red Sea disrupted maritime trade. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.8 per cent at the last count, while Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.6 per cent. 

With inputs from agencies

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