Asian share markets started the last month of the year on a cautious note after recent strong gains, though growing expectations Europe and the US are poised to cut rates should help ease pressure on local currencies and central banks.

The Nikkei is trading marginally higher while the Hang Seng index is trading 0.2% lower. The Shanghai Composite is trading 0.3% lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest level since January 2022 as investors crossed the finish line of a banner month for stocks.

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

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 276 points higher and NSE Nifty is trading 88 points higher.

NTPC and L&T are among the top gainers today.

Wipro and Tech Mahindra on the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading 0.6% higher and the BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.7%.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed today, with stocks in power sector, and realty sector witnessing most buying. Meanwhile stocks in IT sector and auto sectors are trading lower.

Shares of TVS Holding and Titan hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.33 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading flat at Rs 62,636 per 10 grams today.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading 0.1% lower at Rs 77,601 per 1 kg.
 

Ultratech To Buy Kesoram Industries

Industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla is set to take over the cement business of Kesoram Industries.

Kesoram and UltraTech Cement disclosed an all-stock deal that would entail the B K Birla company demerging its cement business into India's largest cement producer.

Kesoram had decided to demerge its cement business and approached UltraTech Cement about it.

In 2018, UltraTech acquired B K Birla firm Century Textiles' cement business in a similar share-swap deal.

The deal is being executed at an enterprise value of Rs 76 billion (bn).

UltraTech will issue one equity share of a face value of Rs 10 for every 52 equity shares of Kesoram, also of a face value of Rs 10. The deal values Kesoram at Rs 173 per share, a 24% premium to the closing on the BSE on Thursday.

Kesoram has two integrated cement units at Sedam (Karnataka) and Basantnagar (Telangana), with a capacity of 10.75 million tonnes a year.

The transaction would provide it an opportunity to extend its footprint in the highly fragmented, competitive, and fast-growing western and southern markets in the country.

The transaction requires the approval of shareholders creditors, and regulatory authorities, including the National Company Law Tribunal and Competition Commission of India. It is expected to be completed in nine to twelve months.
 

Infosys Partners Shell

IT major Infosys on Thursday said it has partnered with energy company Shell to accelerate the adoption of immersion cooling services for data centres.

Infosys and Shell will bring together their capabilities in digital and energy, respectively, along with an ecosystem of partners to create an integrated offering for green data centres.

Shell has developed its own synthetic, single-phase immersion cooling fluid that will be used in the project, which it claims will help to bolster the energy efficiency and performance of data centres, particularly when combined with Infosys' generative artificial intelligence (AI) offerings.

Immersion cooling typically involves submerging a datacentre kit in thermally conductive, dielectric liquids to help lower its temperature and Shell is not the first energy firm to turn its attention to popularising the use of the concept in datacentres.

In the Shell-Infosys project, the pair have committed to piloting the immersion cooling setup within their datacentres to start with, before extending the use of it to other customers around the world.

Shares of Infosys are trading 4% lower so far in 2023. Take a look below.

Infosys stands among beaten-down IT stocks and could potentially stage a comeback. 
 

Biocon Integrates Viatris'

Biocon Biologics on Thursday said it has completed the integration of the acquired biosimilar business from Viatris Inc in 31 European countries.

Following the deal closure in November 2022, the company, a unit of Biocon Ltd, had earlier announced the integration of Viatris Inc's business in over 70 countries in emerging markets.

The pipeline of 20 products will allow the company to better address patient needs and be a reliable partner to health organisations.

Biocon Biologics and its partners will commercialise biosimilar products in various European countries like Albania, Austria, Belgium and more.

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