Asian equities opened little changed as traders await U.S. and European central bank meetings this week for further clues on the 2018 policy outlook.
The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.13 percent at 10,359.50 as of 6:30 a.m.
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Day Break
Global Cues
- U.S. stocks finished higher and the S&P 500 Index rose to a record, as investors put off big bets before a series of key central bank meetings this week.
Europe Check
- In Europe, stocks struggled for direction. Bonds rose and the euro climbed. The pound slipped, as some of the promises made to clinch a breakthrough Brexit deal last week started to fray.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell less than 0.1 percent.
Asian Cues
- The Topix index and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average were little changed.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.2 percent and the Kospi index fell 0.5 percent.
- Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.1 percent.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed.
Here are some key events scheduled for the remainder of the week:
- Fed policy makers on Wednesday are projected to raise the target range for their benchmark interest rate against a backdrop of continuing robust U.S. economic conditions, a vibrant labor market and forecasts for inflation to pick up.
- The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank set monetary policy at their respective meetings on Thursday.
- Among top U.S. economic reports are consumer inflation on Wednesday and retail sales on Thursday.
- European lawmakers continue to debate Brexit and weigh moves on the next step, while North America Free Trade Agreement negotiators meet again.
Commodity Cues
- West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed at $57.93 a barrel after gaining 1.1 percent.
- Gold traded at $1,243.99 an ounce.
- Sugar ends near seven-week low at 13.95 cents per pound
Shanghai Exchange
- Steel trades higher for second day; up 0.5 percent.
- Aluminium trades higher for second day; up 0.6 percent.
- Zinc trades higher; up 1.5 percent.
- Copper trades higher for third day; up 1.2 percent.
- Rubber trades higher for second straight day; up 0.3 percent.
India Data To Watch
- 5:30pm: Oct. industrial production YoY; est. 2.9 percent (prior 3.8 percent)
- 5:30pm: India Nov. YoY consumer price inflation; Est. 4.28 percent (prior 3.58 percent)
- 12/12-12/29: Q3 BoP current account balance, est. -$8.30 billion, (Prior -$14.30 billion)
Indian ADRs
Earnings To Watch
- Axiscades Engineering Tech.
- Chartered Logistics.
- Deccan Gold Mines.
- Goldstone Infra.
- Gujarat Apollo.
- Lincoln Pharma.
- Nitesh Estates.
- Poddar Housing.
- Simbhaoli Sugars.
- Speciality Restaurants.
- Talwalkars Better Value Fitness.
Earnings Reaction To Watch
Repro India (Q2, YoY)
- Revenue down 7 percent at Rs 69.55 crore.
- Net profit down 86 percent at Rs 2.5 crore.
- Ebitda loss at Rs 2.1 crore.
- Margin at -3 percent versus 10.9 percent.
Arss Infra Projects (Q2, YoY)
- Revenue down 59 percent at Rs 51 crore.
- Net loss of Rs 28 crore versus loss of Rs 56 crore.
- Ebitda loss at Rs 16 crore versus Ebitda loss of Rs 37 crore.
- Margin at -31.4 percent versus -29.6 percent.
Lasa Supergenerics (Q2, QoQ)
- Revenue up 9 percent at Rs 64.5 crore.
- Net profit up 24 percent at Rs 8.7 crore.
- Ebitda down 14 percent at Rs 12.5 crore.
- Margin at 19.4 percent versus 24.6 percent.
Mawana Sugar (Q2, YoY)
- Revenue down 9.6 percent at Rs 175 crore.
- Net loss of Rs 11 crore versus loss of Rs 9.5 crore.
- Ebitda loss at Rs 10 crore.
- Margin at -5.7 percent versus 0.5 percent.
Andrew Yule (Q2, YoY)
- Revenue down 28.6 percent at Rs 95 crore.
- Net profit up 31 percent at Rs 21.7 crore.
- Ebitda down 28 percent at Rs 13.1 crore.
- Margin at 13.8 percent versus 13.7 percent.
Nandan Denim (Q2, YoY)
- Revenue up 37 percent at Rs 415 crore.
- Net profit down 0.6 percent at Rs 16.1 crore.
- Ebitda up 27 percent at Rs 63 crore.
- Margin at 15.2 percent versus 16.3 percent.
V2 Retail (Q2, YoY)
- Revenue up 33.5 percent at Rs 137.5 crore.
- Net profit up 285 percent at Rs 5 crore.
- Ebitda up 46.3 percent at Rs 9.8 crore.
- Margin at 7.1 percent versus 6.5 percent.
Associated Alcohol and Breweries (Q2, YoY)
- Revenue up 4.9 percent at Rs 64 crore.
- Net profit at Rs 3.6 crore.
- Ebitda up 14.3 percent at Rs 8 crore.
- Margin at 12.5 percent versus 11.5 percent.
Stocks To Watch
- Dr. Reddy’s Bachupally formulations plant 3 gets U.S.FDA EIR.
- GNA Axles started commercial production from its two newly installed Automated Machining Lines at its unit in Punjab.
- Asian Paints acquired remaining 49 percent stake in Sleek from Ahuja Family for Rs 50 crore.
- Xpro India sold land located in Kolkata for Rs 21 crore.
- Tata Teleservices total number of subscribers in November, down 4.1 percent at 70.74 lakh versus. 73.78 lakh in October.
- L&T Infotech completes acquisition of 100 percent stake in banking solution provider Syncordis SA.
- Natco Pharma QIP opens at a floor price fixed at Rs 937.63 per share.
- Canara Bank floats request for proposal to select bankers to raise equity through a QIP.
- SC to hear matter of ban on pet coke and furnace oil on Dec. 13.
Bulk Deals
- JK Paper: Societe de Promotion et de Participation Pour la Cooperation sold 21.58 lakh shares or 1.2 percent equity stake at Rs 136 each.
- Radico Khaitan: Societe Generale sold 14.88 lakh shares or 1.1 percent equity stake at Rs 270.05 each.
NBCC
- Morgan Stanley France SAS sold 73.31 lakh shares or 0.8 percent equity stake at Rs 260.4 each.
- Societe Generale bought 73.31 lakh shares or 0.8 percent equity stake at Rs 260.4 each.
SREI Infra
- Morgan Stanley France SAS sold 28.24 lakh shares or 0.6 percent equity stake at Rs 100.65 each.
- Societe Generale bought 28.24 lakh shares or 0.6 percent equity stake at Rs 100.65 each.
Trading Tweaks
- Wipro buyback date revised from Nov. 29 - Dec. 13.
- Chaman Lal Setia circuit filter revised to 10 percent.
- SRS circuit filter revised to 5 percent.
- Future Retail last trading day under T group.
Who’s Meeting Whom?
- MGL to meet Ask Investment Managers and BOB Capital on Dec. 12.
- Jyothy Labs to meet over 15 fund houses including IDFC MF, IIFL AMC, Tata MF, Taurus MF and others on Dec. 12.
- Emmbi Industries to meet over 15 investors including Motilal AMC, Max Life, ICICI Prudential Life and others on Dec. 12.
- TCI Express to meet over 20 fund houses like Tata MF, UTI MF, Edelweiss AMC, Mirea AMC and many others on Dec. 12.
- Tata Motors to meet DSP Merrill Lynch on Dec. 12 and Credit Suisse Securities on Dec. 13.
- UFO Moviez to do a roadshow in Hong Kong and Singapore from Dec. 13-15.
- Eclerx to meet Edelweiss Securities on Dec. 13 and JP Morgan Asset Management on Dec. 15.
- TVS Motors to meet Tree Line Asia Master Fund on Dec. 14.
- Trent to meet Axis Mutual Fund on Dec. 21.
Insider Trades
- Bajaj Finance director Sanjivnayan Bajaj bought 88,000 shares on Dec. 8.
- Lupin promoter buys 45,000 shares on Dec. 8.
- JP Associates promoter sells 30,000 shares on Dec. 8.
- Digjam promoter sells 1 lakh shares on Dec. 7 - 8.
Rupee
- Rupee closed at 64.37/$ on Monday from 64.46/$ on Friday.
Top Gainers And Losers
Index Trends
F&O Cues
- Nifty December Futures trading at 10,346, premium of 24.4 points versus 26 points.
- December Futures: Nifty open interest up 1 percent; Bank Nifty open interest up 2 percent.
- India VIX at 14.1, up 3.5 percent.
- Max open interest for Dec. series at 10,500 Call (open interest at 53.2 lakh, down 5 percent).
- Max open interest for Dec. series at 10,000 Put (open interest at 85.4 lakh, down 2 percent).
F&O Ban
- In ban: Fortis, HDIL, IRB Infra, Jet Airways, Jain Irrigation, JP Associates and JSW Energy.
- New in ban: Fortis.
Only intraday positions can be taken in stocks which are in F&O ban. In case of a rollover of these intraday positions, there is a penalty.
Stocks Seeing High Open Interest Change
Fund Flows
Brokerage Radar
Credit Suisse on Zee Entertainment
- Maintained ‘Outperform’ with price target of Rs 610.
- Expect strong report in the second half; positive growth outlook on advertising and subscription.
- Cut in GST rates to support advertising in the next financial year.
- Phase 3 digitisation benefits should start benefiting Zee in the next financial year.
- OTT launch another near-term trigger.
- Like both the near and medium-term story at Zee.
Goldman Sachs on Motherson Sumi
- Upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’; Raised price target to Rs 430 from Rs 318.
- Best positioned among our India autos coverage.
- Wiring Harness - Largely insulated from electric vehicles; positively exposed to AVs.
- Polymer Parts - Integral to premiumization, light-weighting and safety; EV/AV positive.
- Rear View Mirrors - Digital mirrors are closer than they appear and more profitable
- Raise revenue estimates for the next three financial years by 5 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent respectively.
- Raise operating income estimates for for the next three financial years by 5 percent, 17 percent and 21 percent respectively.
- Positives: global structural trends of premiumisation, light-weighting, modularisation and vendor consolidation.
Jefferies on Indian Energy Exchange
- Initiated ‘Buy’ with price target of Rs 1,950.
- IEX has a headstart in the power exchange market.
- IEX to gain market share from less transparent bilateral traders.
- Transparency to drive rise in exchange volume share.
- Medium term power oversupply provides an additional safety net.
- Expect volumes and net profit to grow at compounded rate of 14 percent by March 2020.
- Pricing, a concern area, but within CERC trader limits.
- High dividend payout ratio is a key positive; To keep return on equities more than 40 percent.
- Bull Case price target of Rs 2,247.
Edelweiss on Asian Granito
- Initiated ‘Buy’ with price target of Rs 720.
- Well placed to leverage its vast distribution network and strong brand equity.
- Prudently shifting focus to high-margin retail segment.
- Rising utilisation and focus on premium products to propel bottom line.
- Expect revenue, operating income and net profit to grow at a compounded rate of 14 percent, 21 percent and 40 percent respectively by March 2020.
- Expect return on capital employed to expand to 20 percent by March 2020, compared to 12 percent clocked in the previous financial year.
- AGL entails strong re-rating potential on improvement in retail mix.
Edelweiss on Century Plyboards
- Initiated ‘Buy’ with price target of Rs 442.
- Only integrated player with presence across wood panel industry.
- Capacity in place to tackle burgeoning opportunities.
- Lower raw material cost to spur margin.
- Company in last stage of capex and is well-positioned to reap benefit of anticipated demand.
- Expect revenue, operating income and net profit to grow at a compounded rate of 20 percent, 24 percent and 28 percent respectively by March 2020.
- Strong compounding play in domestic wood panel industry.
- Positive: Favourable GST rate, shift to organised players and government’s focus on housing.
Edelweiss on Greenlam Industries
- Initiated ‘Buy’ with price target of Rs 1,477.
- Leader to rake in GST benefits; Well leveraged to expand product basket.
- Expect veneer business to turnaround by the next financial year.
- Capex through, time to reap benefits.
- Financial leverage to propel bottom-line growth.
- Expect revenue, operating income and net profit to grow at a compounded rate of 12 percent, 21 percent and 35 percent respectively by March 2020.
- Expect healthy growth in existing segments and turnaround in newer segments.
- Strong re-rating potential.
Edelweiss on Greenply Industries
- Initiated ‘Buy’ with price target of Rs 395.
- Expect pick up in real estate market, demand shift to organised players to propel growth.
- MDF capacity augmentation: Potent revenue booster.
- Plywood business perking up; high outsourcing to bolster revenue.
- Tripling capacity to drive growth and to keep margins under pressure.
- Expect revenue, operating income and net profit to grow at a compounded rate of 20 percent, 22 percent and 21 percent by March 2020.
- Aggressive capex phase by March 2019, to keep return on capital employed under pressure.
- Triggers: start of MDF capacity and pick up in plywood demand.