Closing Bell
Indian equity benchmarks fell to their lowest level in over three months dragged by metal, banking and IT stocks.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.76 percent or 253 points to 32,923 and the NSE Nifty 50 index tumbled 0.99 percent or 101 points to 10,094.
All sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Realty index's 2.9 percent drop.
Losses were broad-based as the S&P BSE MidCap index fell 1.6 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index plunged 2 percent.
Countdown
Market Check
- Indian equity benchmarks were trading near day's lowest level dragged by Infosys, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel.
- The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.85 percent or 282 points to 32,889 and the NSE Nifty 50 index fell 1.05 percent or 107 points to 10,087.
- All sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Metal index’s 2.3 percent drop.
Fab Four Stocks Of The Day
- Shilpa Medicare: The Raichur-based active pharmaceutical ingredients maker rose as much as 13 percent to Rs 516 after the company said that it has received Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the U.S. drug regulator for its formulation manufacturing facility in Telangana following the audit in November last year.
- HEG: The Madhya Pradesh graphite electrode maker rose as much as 11.6 percent to record high of Rs 3,515 after Vanguard Group bought the stake in the company. The investment bank bought 473,000 shares of HEG at a price of Rs 3,152.52 per share.
- Ashoka Buildcon: The Mumbai-based road construction company rose as much as 3 percent to Rs 232 after the company said its arm Ashoka Concessions emerged as the lowest bidder for NHAI’s Rs 1,687 crore project.
- United Bank: The Kolkata-based government-owned lender rose for third day in a row. The stock rose as much as 13 percent to Rs 15.15. Trading volume was 6.2 times its 20-day average.
Stocks Moving On Heavy Volumes
- AIA Engineering: The Gujarat-based specialty chemical firm rose as much as 1.9 percent to Rs 1,373. trading volume was 10.2 times its 20-day average.
- Igarashi Motors: The Chennai-based auto parts maker rose as much as 0.9 percent to Rs 807. Trading volume was 10 times its 20-day average.
- JBF Industries: The Mumbai-based textile maker fell as much as 19.57 percent to Rs 113.20. Trading volume 10.3 times its 20-day average.
- United Bank of India: The Kolkata-based government-owned lender rose as much as 13 percent to Rs 15.15. trading volume was 6.2 times its 20-day average.
Binani Industries Falls As UltraTech To Issue Rs 7,270 Crore Comfort Letter To Buy Cement Unit
Shares of the Mumbai-based cement maker fell as much as 3.7 percent to Rs 94.50 after UltraTech board agreed to consider Binani Industries' request to issue the comfort letter confirming to provide Rs 7,270 crore, being the amount, it offered the creditors’ panel in terms of resolution plan submitted to buy Binani Cement.
Power Lunch
PSU Banks Witness Selling Pressure, Bank Of Baroda Falls Most In A Year
Shares of the government-owned lenders came under sharp selling pressure. Gauge of the PSU banks — Nifty PSU Bank index slumped 2.7 percent led by losses in Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank and Syndicate Bank.
Bank Of Baroda Drops 10%, Falls Most In Over A Year
Shares of the Vadodara-based government-owned bank fell as much as 9.6 percent, the most in over a year, to Rs 130.
Trading volume was 1.7 times its 20-day average at this time of the day.
#Ask BQ
Why Nomura Remains Cautious On Indian IT Stocks Despite Recent Run Up
Japanese brokerage Nomura remains cautious on the Indian information technology sector outlook, even as the NSE Nifty IT index has managed to outperform peers so far this year. This is mainly because it expects the sector to remain subdued in the wake of looming uncertainty due to U.S. President Donald Trump's stringent visa norms, and increased competition from multinational companies and new players.
Hot Money
Bandhan Bank IPO Update
Bandhan Bank's Rs 4,473 crore IPO was fully subscribed on the last day of subscription as of 11:00 a.m.
- Portion reserved for institutional investors was subscribed 2.66 times.
- Non-institutional bidder portion was subscribed 0.26 times.
- Retail portion was subscribed 0.52 times.
- Total subscription stood at 1.07 times.
Source: Company's PR
Market Check
- Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower dragged by metal, IT and government-owned banking shares.
- The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.3 percent or 92 points to 33,082 and the NSE Nifty 50 index declined 0.4 percent or 38 points to 10,156.
- All sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Metal index's 2.6 percent drop.
- The losses were broad-based as the S&P BSE MidCap index fell 1.2 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index declined 1.4 percent.
Top five Nifty losers
- Bharat Petroleum down 3.4 percent
- Indian Oil down 3.2 percent
- Adani Ports down 3.2 percent
- HCL Technologies down 3.0 percent
- Hindustan Petroleum down 2.9 percent
Top five Nifty gainers
- Lupin up 1.3 percent
- Power Grid up 1.2 percent
- Larsen & Toubro up 1.0 percent
- Maruti Suzuki up 0.9 percent
- Hindustan Unilever up 0.8 percent
RCom Falls As It Challenges NCLT, High Court Stay On Asset Sale In Top Court
Shares of the Anil Ambani-led company fell 2.35 percent to Rs 22.90 after it moved top court seeking its directive for early hearing of pleas to lift stay on sale of assets.
Meanwhile, a 3-judge Supreme Court panel headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra says Reliance Communications’ plea will be listed for hearing on Thursday.
Trend Spotting
TV Today Network Declines On Plans To Sell Radio Channels
Shares of the TV news channel operator’s fell as much 7.7 percent, the most in nearly six months, to Rs 482.
The company halted its plan to transfer some of its radio channels to Vibgyor Broadcast Pvt Ltd. and rather planned to sell three radio stations of Ishq 104.8 FM to Entertainment Network India Ltd. (ENIL).
Trading volume was 3.9 times its 30-day average. The stock rose 13 percent so far this year, compared to 2.6 percent decline in Sensex.
VA Tech Wabag Gains After Porinju Veliyath Buys Stake
Shares of the Chennai-based builder of water and sewage treatment plants rose as much as 3.14 percent to Rs 519 after Porinju Veliyath's Equity Intelligence bought 0.35 percent stake or about 1.9 lakh shares in VA Tech Wabag.
ITDC Falls After Two Days Of Stellar Run
Shares of the government-owned tourism company declined 5.9 percent to Rs 464 after it rose nearly 30 percent in last two trading sessions.
Metal Stocks Fall As Iron Ore Prices Decline In International Markets
Shares of the metal producers were trading with a negative bias after prices of iron ore fell in international markets. Iron ore on Dalian Commodity Exchange fell for 3.2 percent.
Meanwhile, gauge of metal producers on the National Stock Exchange — Nifty Metal index fell over 2 percent dragged by decline in SAIL, NMDC, Hindustan Copper and Coal India.
HEG, Graphite India Surge After Vanguard Buys Stake
Shares of HEG rose as much as 11.6 percent to record high of Rs 3,515 and Graphite India surged 5.8 percent to Rs 820 after Vanguard Group bought stake in both the companies.
- Vanguard Group bought 13.59 lakh shares in Graphite India at Rs 776.06 per share.
- In HEG the group bought 4.72 lakh shares at Rs 3,152 per share.
Indian Oil, BPCL Fall On Report That They May Buy Stake In GAIL
Shares of Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum fell as much as 4.7 percent and 4.1 percent each respectively as both the companies may buy 26 percent stake each in gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd., paying the government over Rs 20,000 crore each to become integrated energy firms, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The report added that following Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's February 2017 Budget announcement of creating integrated oil majors, IOC and BPCL had submitted separate proposals to buy the government's 54.89 percent stake in India's biggest gas marketing and transportation firm.
The F&O Show
Ramco Cements Gains On CLSA Upgrade
Shares of the Chennai-based cement maker rose as much as 3.3 percent to Rs 765 after CLSA upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'sell' and raised its target price to Rs 700.
CLSA in a note said:
- Channel checks indicate demand pick-up in Tamil Nadu.
- Costs have also peaked; Ongoing efforts to drive savings.
- Volume growth to improve in next 12-18 months.
- Leverage to fall to sub-0.5 times by March 2020.
- Ramco Cements is top pick in the sector.
PNC Infratech Rises After Emerging As Lowest Bidder For Highway Project
Shares of the Agra-based road construction company rose as much as 4 percent to Rs 160.10 after it emerged as the lowest bidder for and NHAI project for four laning of 45 km section between Aligarh-Kanpur.
The project will be executed on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) for a bid project cost (BPC) of Rs 1,197.0 crores, having a construction period of two years and operation period of 15 years.
Thermax Gains After Winning Orders Worth Rs 500 Crore
Shares of the Pune-based electrical power equipment maker rose as much as 2.16 percent to Rs 1,180 after it won an order worth Rs 503 crore for co-generation plants In Haryana and Punjab.
GMR Infra Gains After Brokerage Initiates Coverage
Shares of the Bangalore-based infrastructure company rose as much as 2.8 percent to Rs 18.10 after IDBI Capital initiated coverage on the stock with a 'buy' for target price of Rs 32, implying a potential upside of 78 percent from its Friday's closing price.
The brokerage in a note said:
- GMR Infra stands as a testament to world-class conglomerate.
- With stake sale in energy, days are brighter ahead.
- Divestment of roads is a matter of time.
- Monetisation of land bank is a sweetener.
- TDSAT ruling to re-rate airport assets.
- Re-rating is around the corner.
- GMR Infra top pick in industrial stocks.
Opening Bell
Indian equity benchmarks edged higher led by Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma. However, the gains were capped as oil marketing companies — Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum were among the losers.
The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.2 percent or 67 points to 33,241 and the NSE Nifty 50 index gained 0.2 percent or 20 points to 10,215.
Fourteen out of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the S&P BSE Consumer Durables index's 0.6 percent gain. On the other hand, the S&P BSE Metal index was the top sectoral loser, down 0.9 percent.
Mid and small-cap shares were trading with a negative bias as the S&P BSE MidCap index fell 0.5 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index slipped 0.15 percent.
Rupee Opens Lower Against U.S. Dollar
- Rupee opened lower at 65.03 per U.S. dollar against Friday's close of 64.94.
IndianOpen
Money Market Heads Up!
India rupee is likely to open weak as the country’s current account deficit widened last quarter. The current account gap was $13 billion in October-December quarter or 2 percent of GDP.
That's wider than the previous quarter’s $7.21 billion deficit. Implied opening from forwards suggest spot may start trading around 65.12.
Goldman sees the rising trade deficit more as a risk than an immediate concern to India’s external account. It has raised its FY18 current account deficit forecast to 1.9 percent of GDP from 1.8 percent earlier.
BQ Heads Up!
Brokerage Radar
IDBI Capital on GMR Infrastructure
- Initiated ‘Buy’ with price target of Rs 32; implying a potential upside of 78 percent from the last regular trade.
- GMR Infra stands as a testament to world-class conglomerate.
- With stake sale in energy, days are brighter ahead.
- Divestment of roads is a matter of time.
- Monetisation of land bank is a sweetener.
- TDSAT ruling to re-rate airport assets.
- Re-rating is around the corner.
- GMR Infra top pick in industrial stocks.
CLSA on Ramco Cements
- Upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Sell’; raised price target to Rs 930 from Rs 700.
- Channel checks indicate demand pick-up in Tamil Nadu.
- Costs have also peaked; Ongoing efforts to drive savings.
- Volume growth to improve in next 12-18 months.
- Leverage to fall to sub-0.5 times by March 2020.
- Ramco Cements is top pick in the sector.
Deutsche Bank on India Consumer
- Improving fundamentals outweigh concerns on expensive valuations.
- Broad-based improvement in sales trajectory and rural recovery seen.
- Only select categories witnessing shift to organised from unorganized.
- Soaps, detergents and hair oil segments witnessing the shift.
- Strong pipeline of new product launches.
- Prefer Discretionary over Staples.
- Jubilant Foodworks: Maintained ‘Buy’; raised price target to Rs 2,600 from Rs 2,500.
- Tata Global: Downgrade to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’; raised price target to Rs 300 from Rs 175.
JPMorgan on Motherson Sumi
- Maintained ‘Neutral’; raised price target to Rs 285 from Rs 250.
- Balance risk reward at current share price levels.
- Operating leverage in European subs to drive earnings growth.
- New acquisitions will remain fairly acquisitive.
- India business remains sweetly positioned.
- EPS CAGR of 31 percent over the fiscal 2018-2020 looks attractive.
- Valuations are demanding, leaving limited room for a miss.
Morgan Stanley on Power Companies
- Like Tata Power for its deleveraging potential.
- Like Power Grid as rising yields imply less risk on regulated returns.
- For NTPC, risks around reduced incentives not priced in.
- Merchant tariffs reached a new high; Likely to normalize.
- Tata Power: Maintained ‘Overweight’; cut price target to Rs 94 from Rs 102.
- Power Grid: Maintained ‘Overweight’; cut price target to Rs 229 from Rs 236.
- NTPC: Maintained ‘Equalweight’; raised price target to Rs 176 from Rs 149.
- JSW Energy: Maintained ‘Underweight’; raised price target to Rs 68 from Rs 50.
- Adani Power: Maintained ‘Underweight’; cut price target to Rs 19 from Rs 21.
- BHEL: Maintained ‘Underweight’; raised price target to Rs 63 from Rs 62.
Jefferies on Telecom
- Bharti Airtel: Downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Hold’; cut price target to Rs 365 from Rs 400.
- Bharti Infratel: Maintained ‘Hold’; cut price target to Rs 300 from Rs 385.
- Idea Cellular: Maintained ‘Underperform’; cut price target to Rs 68 from Rs 70.
- Profitability to remain under pressure for another 12 months.
- Expect ARPU improvement from October 2019.
- Consumer willingness to pay higher for similar service is low.
- Bharti Airtel well placed to face competitive threat to its various businesses.
- Expect Airtel to sustain its overall market share and gain data subscriber share.
- Expect Idea to see substantial market share losses.
- Expect muted near-term growth for Infratel.
- Concerned about the long-term margins and return ratios of Infratel.
Nomura on Infosys Management Meet
- Maintained ‘Reduce’ with a price target of Rs 990.
- Sounded positive on BFSI.
- Commentary mixed in other verticals.
- Consulting and system integration has seen a pick up lately.
- Heightened management attrition has not hurt performance.
- Retain cautious stance on IT sector and do not see material acceleration in the next fiscal.
Nomura on Wipro Management Meet
- Maintained ‘Reduce’ with price target of Rs 270.
- Expects next fiscal to be better than current fiscal.
- Digital an opportunity, though benefits differ based on stage of a client.
- Expects growth to remain strong in BFSI.
- Retain cautious stance on IT sector and do not see material acceleration in the next fiscal.
All You Need to Know
Stocks To Watch
- SBI sold, ICICI Bank bought 4.4 percent equity in Clearing Corporation for Rs 143 crore
- Videocon Industries clarified that it is evaluating process to sell stake in Brazil oil block.
- Zee Entertainment calls off deal to acquire 100 percent equity stake in 9X entities.
- Porinju Veliyath Equity Intelligence bought 0.35 percent stake or about 1.9 lakh shares in VA Tech Wabag.
- Grasim Industries increased epoxy resin production capacity at Gujarat plant to 1.23 lakh metric tonnes per annum.
- Max Financial to raise funds for making investment in subsidiary, Max Life Insurance.
- Gujarat Fluorochemicals approves offer for sale for 6.1 percent equity of Inox Wind at price of Rs 115 each.
- Thermax won order worth Rs 503 crore for co-generation plants In Haryana and Punjab.
- UPL’s stake in Brazil’s Sinagro Group falls to 45 percent from 49 percent.
- TV Today to sell three radio stations with ISHQ 104.8FM to ENIL.
- Orchid Pharma received three bids under insolvency proceedings.
- Sona Koyo Engineering’s promoter JTEKT Corporation to sell about 47 lakh shares on March 19,20 via offer for sale route.
- Cadila Health received final approval from the U.S. FDA for omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate capsules.
- PNC Infratech emerged as the lowest bidder for Rs 1,197 crore Aligarh-Kanpur project.
- Indian Oil, BPCL might buy 26 percent stake each in GAIL (PTI).
- Liberty House’s bid for ABG Shipyard rejected (Economic Times).
DayBreak
IPO Market Update
- Bandhan Bank IPO continues on day three, issue subscribed 0.88 times on day two.
- Hindustan Aeronautics IPO continues on day two, issue subscribed 0.24 times on day one.
- Karda Construction IPO continues on day two, issue subscribed 0.98 times on day one.
Sandhar Technologies IPO opens today: Here’s all you need to know
F&O Cues
- Nifty March futures closed at 10,232.5, at a premium of 37 points versus 12 points.
- March series — Nifty open interest up 4 percent, Bank Nifty open interest up 12 percent.
- India VIX ended at 15.2, up 6 percent.
- Max open interest for March series at 10,500 call strike, open interest at 58.3 lakh shares, up 15 percent.
- Max open interest for March series at 10,000 put, open interest at 46.3 lakh shares.
Bulk Deals
Gateway Distriparks
- Promoter Prem Kishan Gupta buys 10,00,639 shares at price of Rs 201 per share.
- Morgan Stanley sells 10,06,787 shares at Rs 201 per share.
Jaypee Infratech
- IndusInd Bank Client Account sells 85,00,000 shares at Rs 10.7 per share.
Teamlease Services
- HDFC Mutual Fund sells 3,80,121 shares Rs 2,050 per share.
- JF India Fund buys 4,02,630 shares at Rs 2049 per share.
Graphite India
- Vanguard Group buys 13,59,933 shares at Rs 776.06 per share.
HEG
- Vanguard Group buys 4,72,853 shares at Rs 3,152.52 per share.
Mastek
- MV SCIF Mauritius buys 1,19,450 shares at Rs 553.41 per share.
Capital First
- Vanguard Group buys 9,31,292 shares at Rs 648.65 per share.
Eris Lifesciences
- Vanguard Group buys 10,12,102 shares at Rs 814.88 per share.
Talking Points
- China names Yi Gang as new central bank governor: Report
- Incompetent managers have destroyed the economy: Congress
- Jobs the biggest risk to India growth story, says Paul Krugman
- DP World’s India joint venture buys 90% stake in logistics firm
- IOC, BPCL may buy government’s Rs 41,000-crore stake in GAIL
- Only 16% of initial and final GST returns for July-December matched
- Maharashtra farmers ‘reclaim’ land acquired by Nirav Modi’s firm
- Vijay Mallya case: U.K. judge says ‘obvious’ Indian banks broke rules
- This startup claims to bust fake news in real time
- PM Modi promised 2 crore jobs, not even 2 lakh created: Manmohan Singh
- Why earlier government health insurance failed?
Good Morning!
The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, fell 0.3 percent to 10,203 as of 6:21 a.m.
Asian equities traded mixed and currency markets were subdued at the start of a week that’s likely to be dominated by the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.
Stock benchmarks nudged lower in Japan and Korea, and rose in Australia, while futures signaled gains in Hong Kong. Investors are assessing the implications of a new head at China’s central bank, after the Wall Street Journal reported that Yi Gang was named to run the PBOC.
Here are some key calendar events coming up this week:
- The FOMC decision and Powell’s news conference come on Wednesday.
- The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates and its asset-purchase program unchanged on Thursday. Attention is on language in the statement, while many forecast the bank could increase its key rate as soon as its next meeting in May.
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday as part of a U.S. visit that includes New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.
- Company earnings scheduled for this week include: Tencent, FedEx, Porsche, Hermes, PetroChina, Nike, Enel and Oracle.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed one basis point to 2.86 percent, extending gains from Friday.
- Australia’s 10-year bond yield rose two basis points to 2.71 percent.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3 percent to $62.15 a barrel. It rallied 1.9 percent Friday.
- Gold was down 0.1 percent to $1,312.39 an ounce.
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