Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher on 20 December 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.

The Nikkei is trading 1.6% higher while the Hang Seng index is trading 1.2% higher.

US stocks gained ground on Tuesday and nabbed another all-time closing high

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Tuesday:

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 395 points higher and NSE Nifty is trading 119 points higher.

TCS and Wipro are among the top gainers today.

Coal India and Sun Pharma on the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading mixed. The BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap index are trading higher by 0.7%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note today, with stocks in the power sector and the FMCG sector witnessing the most buying.

Shares of Nestle and Trent hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.15 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading flat at Rs 62,512 per 10 grams today.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading 0.3% higher at Rs 75,020 per 1 kg.
 

Rail Vikas Nigam New Order Win

Rail Vikas Nigam and Kerala Rail Development Corporation JV emerged as the lowest bidders to upgrade and redevelop the Varkala Sivagiri Railway station in Kerala.

The project costs Rs 1.2 bn, and the period for the project is 30 months.

RVNL was incorporated in 2003 by the government of India. It is engaged in implementing various types of rail infrastructure projects assigned by the Ministry of Railways.

Some of its projects include doubling, gauge conversion, building new lines, major bridges, and railway electrification.

The Indian railways is gearing up with a new Rs 1 trillion plan as its next big leap in the sector and RVNL is set to benefit from it. 

It also stands among the Top 10 Indian Government Stocks for Explosive Growth in 2024.
 

Nippon AMC Block Deal

A block deal involving 17.8 m shares, representing 2.8% equity in Nippon Asset Management Company, took place on the exchanges on 20 December. The floor price of the block deal was Rs 427, taking the total value of the transaction to Rs 7.6 bn.

The block deal was likely to be done at a floor price of Rs 426.6 per share, reflecting an over 5% discount to the stock's closing price of Rs 449.8 in the previous session.

IndusInd Bank is one of the new-generation private sector banks in India. It commenced operations in 1994.

The bank's business lines include corporate banking, retail banking, treasury, foreign exchange, and more.
 

Varun Beverages to Acquire South African Bottler

Varun Beverages Limited will acquire South Africa-based The Beverage Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries (Bevco) in a deal at an enterprise value of Rs 13.2 bn.

Bevco is engaged in the business of manufacturing and distributing licensed (PepsiCo Inc.) / own-branded non-alcoholic beverages in South Africa.

It has franchise rights from PepsiCo Inc. in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini. It also has distribution rights for Namibia and Botswana.

The acquisition will enable Varun Beverages, which manufactures and distributes non-alcoholic beverages, to expand its geographical footprint in Africa. It further stated that the indicative period for the completion of the acquisition is on or before 31 July 2024.

With an option to accept minority co-investment from large equity funds, it intends to hold 100 percent of the equity share capital of Bevco and its subsidiaries.

The wholly-owned subsidiaries under Bevco include an operating company named Little Green Beverages Proprietary Limited and various in-operative dormant companies such as Beverage Company BIDCO Proprietary Limited, Old Little Green Beverages Proprietary Limited, Little Green Beverages Bloemfontein Proprietary Limited, among others.

Earlier this month, Varun Beverages was termed the best performer over the past year in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space, delivering a return of 60%.

The company also plans to set up three greenfield plants in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha in CY24 and hopes to start operations in these units to cater to the peak summer season of 2024.

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