After trading deep in the red throughout the session, Indian share markets staged a smart comeback during closing hours and managed to recover most losses.

Indian markets however struggled to track weak global cues.

The choppy trend can be attributed to a lack of fresh positive triggers.

Also, investors are awaiting the release of the minutes of the RBI's recently concluded monetary policy on Wednesday, which could give some clarity on the central bank's likely course of action in the near term.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 104 points (down 0.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 35 points (down 0.2%).

TCS, Reliance Industries, and Axis Bank were among the top gainers today.

HUL, M&M, and L&T on the other hand were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 18,426, down by 61 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets settled on a negative note. The BSE MidCap inched 0.3% lower while the BSE SmallCap index ended flat.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note. Stocks in the energy sector, IT sector, and oil and gas sector witnessed buying.

Meanwhile, stocks in the FMCG sector, auto sector, and realty sector witnessed selling.

Shares of Abbott India, Adani Enterprises, and Tube Investments of India hit their 52-week highs today.

Asian share markets finished sharply lower today with shares in Japan leading the losses.

The Hang Seng inched down by 1.3%, while the Shanghai Composite index ended lower by 1.1%. The Nikkei edged 2.5% lower.

US stock futures are trading on a choppy note after Japan's central bank signaled a policy shift. Dow futures are trading up 0.2% while Nasdaq futures are trading lower up by 0.1%.

The rupee is trading at 82.7 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading higher by 0.9% at Rs 54,732 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 2.2% at Rs 69,015 per kg.
 

LIC Increases Stake in IRCTC

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has increased its stake in the state-owned Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to 7.3% from 5% earlier through open market purchases.

With over 7% stake, LIC is now the single largest public shareholder in the company.

The purchase of shares was done during the period of 17 October to 16 December at an average price of Rs 692.3

The government had launched an offer for sale to offload a 5% stake in the ticketing services major on 15 and 16 December.

The offer for sale had received overwhelming responses from institutional investors, while bids from retail investors were muted.

If we take a look at a recent performance of railway sector stocks, we can see that most of the railway stocks and railway infrastructure stocks have rallied in recent months. But bucking the trend is the most popular railway stock IRCTC.

On a YoY basis, IRCTC's share price has fallen by 21%. The stock has seen heavy selling in recent days especially.

After falling from its high price, IRCTC has been trading in a range-bound manner, sending the stock into a consolidation zone.

Once the stock exits from the consolidation zone it could either rally or drop without turning back. Hence, investors should tread carefully.

To know more about it read our editorial on why IRCTC share price is falling.
 

Adani Group Acquires further Stake in NDTV

Adani Group's Vishvapradhan Commercial today announced the acquisition of an 8.3% stake in the Indian TV news channel, NDTV, through an open offer.

Under the acquisition, it bought 5,330,792 shares with a face value of Rs 4 each at a price of Rs 294 per share.

Till now, Adani group owned 29.2% of the share of the company through its subsidiary RRPR Holding. With the acquisition of 8.3% of the shares by VCPL, Adani owns a total of 37.5% of the shares in the company.

Post-acquisition, the company share ownership of Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy got reduced to 15.9% and 16.3%. With this acquisition, Adani becomes the largest shareholder in NDTV by surpassing Roys, who collectively hold around 32.3% of the shares.

Last month, Gautam Adani Group launched an open offer, which lasted till 5 December, for an additional 26% stake in NDTV. The offer was extended after the takeover of NDTV's promoter firm, RRPR Holding by VCPL.

Sudipta Bhattacharya, Sanjay Pugalia, and, Senthil Sinniah Chengalvarayan have been appointed to the Board of Directors of VCPL.

By being the largest shareholder of NDTV, Adani group can seek control of the board by reconstituting it. They are also able to propose their own set of directors and remove the current directors, said Shriram Subramanian, managing director of Bengaluru-based InGovern Research Services.

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