Asian stocks were broadly mixed at the open. Equity benchmarks South Korea and Australia slipped while Japanese shares posted modest gains. Hong Kong futures fell.
The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, traded 0.1 percent higher at 11,370.50 as of 7:30 a.m.
Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for all you need to know before the opening bell.
Here Are The Stocks To Watch Out For In Today’s Trade
- Hindustan Copper: Government to cut stake to 66.13 percent from 76.05 percent.
- IDBI Bank: Cabinet approves takeover by LIC
- Hero MotoCorp July two wheeler sales up 9 percent at 6.79 lakh units.
- Eicher Motors: Royal Enfield’s July motorcycles sales up 7 percent at 69,063 units.
- Tata Motors July sales up 21 percent at 51,896 units..
- L&T offered to sell L&T Technology Services’ 41 lakh shares or 4 percent equity at Rs 1,400 per share.
- Punjab National Bank to consider capital infusion of Rs 2,816 crore by Government of India on Aug. 6.
- Shivam Autotech reported 20 percent increase in sales in July.
- Tata Power’s June quarter’s generation increased to 13,113 MU versus 12,429 MU.
- Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals PAC plant in Vadodara commences commercial production.
- GPT Infraprojects won railways construction order worth Rs 362.2crore in Uttar Pradesh.
- Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers’ board approved re-classification of three UB Group companies from promoter to public category.
- Excel Crop Care to merge business with Sumitomo Chemicals.
Nifty Earnings To Watch
- Indiabulls Housing Finance
- ONGC
Other Earnings To Watch
- Akzo Nobel India
- Capital First
- Deepak Nitrite
- GE Power India
- Godrej Properties
- JK Lakshmi Cement
- Mahindra Logistics
- Manpasand Beverages
- Marico
- MOIL
- Narayana Hrudayalaya
- Pfizer
- Ramco Cements
- Time Technoplast
- Torrent Pharmaceuticals
Also Read: India Monetary Policy: MPC Hikes Rates For Second Straight Time
Earnings Reaction To Watch
HEG (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue up 7.7 times at Rs 1587.4 crore.
- Net profit at Rs 770.3 crore versus net loss at Rs 8.4 crore.
- Ebitda at Rs 1188 crore versus Rs 23.4 crore.
- Margin at 74.8 percent versus 11.4 percent.
Elecon Engineering & Industries (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue up 29.5 percent at Rs 303.5 crore.
- Net profit at Rs 7.5 crore versus net loss at Rs 36.2 crore.
- Ebitda at Rs 33.8 crore versus Ebitda loss at Rs 9.4 crore.
Jindal Saw (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue up 63.5 percent at Rs 2284.3 crore.
- Net profit up 49.5 percent at Rs 95.1 crore.
- Ebitda up 70 percent at Rs 288.7 crore.
- Margin at 12.6 percent versus 12.2 percent.
V2 Retail (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue up 32 percent at Rs 187.8 crore.
- Net profit UP 29 percent at Rs 11.2 crore.
- Ebitda up 29 percent at Rs 20 crore.
- Margin at 10.6 percent versus 10.9 percent.
Ballarpur Industries (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue up 76.5 percent at Rs 824.4 crore.
- Net loss at Rs 150.2 crore versus net loss at Rs 269.3 crore.
- Ebitda up 48 percent at Rs 112 crore.
- Margin at 13.6 percent versus 16.2 percent.
Pidilite Industries (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue up 20 percent at Rs 1834 crore.
- Net profit up 5.5 percent at Rs 239 crore.
- Ebitda up 19 percent at Rs 381 crore.
- Margin at 20.8 percent versus 21 percent.
Torrent Power (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue up 15.9 percent at Rs 3528.1 crore.
- Net profit up 11.4 percent at Rs 225.9 crore.
- Ebitda down 3.6 percent at Rs 766.4 crore.
- Margin at 21.7 percent versus 26.1 percent.
Triveni Engineering & Industries (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue down 12 percent at Rs 706.6 crore.
- Net profit down 38.7 percent at Rs 37.1 crore.
- Ebitda down 43.4 percent at Rs 73.3 crore.
- Margin at 10.4 percent versus 16.1 percent.
Reliance Infrastructure (Q1, YoY)
- Revenue down 0.5 percent at Rs 7616.6 crore.
- Net profit down 18.7 percent at Rs 271.7 crore.
- Ebitda down 13.2 percent at Rs 1812.3 crore.
- Margin at 23.8 percent versus 27.3 percent.
Bulk Deals
- Talwalkars Lifestyles Ltd: American Funds Insurance Series sold 7.98 lakh shares or 2.6 percent equity at Rs 153.22 each.
Talwalkar Fitness Ltd
- Capital World Growth and Income Fund sold 9.60 lakh shares (3.1 percent) at Rs 30.12 each.
- Smallcap World Fund Inc. sold 6.12 lakh shares (2 percent) at Rs 27.7 each.
Who’s Meeting Whom
- Shriram Transport Finance to meet Indus Capital Partner and Legatum Capital on Aug. 2.
- Kiri Industries to meet Brairwood Capital and Centrum Broking on Aug. 2.
Insider Trades
- Maharashtra Seamless promoter acquired 55,000 shares on July 26.
- Grauer & Weil (India) promoteracquired 21,880 shares from July 30 – 31.
Rupee
- Rupee closed at 68.43/$ on Wednesday from 68.55/$ on Tuesday.
F&O Cues
- Nifty August futures closed trading at 11,374.3 premium of 28 points versus 15 points.
- August series: Nifty open interest up 3 percent; Bank Nifty open interest down 11 percent.
- India VIX ended at 12.5, up 0.4 percent.
- Max open interest for Aug series at 11,500 Call (open interest at 29.9 lakh, up 7 percent)
- Max open interest for Aug series at 11,000 Put (open interest at 51 lakh, up 8 percent)
Active Stock Futures
Brokerage Radar
Kotak on Apollo Tyres
- Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 292.
- June quarter’s operating income was in line with estimates; Net profit surpassed forecasts due to lower tax rate.
- Decline in gross margin could be due to weaker product mix and higher commodity costs.
- Strong growth in India driven by robust demand traction in truck bus radial segment.
- Apollo Tyres is top pick in the tyre sector.
Edelweiss on Spectrum Auction
- 700MHz spectrum is still expensive.
- 3.3-3.6GHz: Environment not yet ready for 5G.
- Given strained balance sheets, operators are unlikely to buy more spectrum.
- Lack of participation to keep spectrum prices in check.
Brokerages On Exide Industries
Nomura
- Maintained ‘Neutral’; raised price target to Rs 276 from Rs 268.
- June quarter’s operating income was ahead of estimates; Margins lower due higher lead prices.
- Expect steady revenue growth and margin expansion.
- Recent drop in lead prices should support margins levels.
UBS
- Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 335.
- June quarter’s big sales surpassed estimates but net profit came inline.
- Lower other income and higher tax rate pull down net profit.
- Surprised by sharp correction in stock prices even after sales and operating income beat estimates.
- Expect earnings growth to accelerate in 2018-19.
Kotak
- Maintained ‘Sell’ with a price target of Rs 265.
- June quarter’s operating income was above estimates on stronger revenue growth.
- Revenue growth led by from auto industry, replacement segment and price hikes.
- Expensive valuations don’t factor in structural issues.
Brokerages On RBI Policy
Kotak Securities
- Neutral stance being retained indicates the rate hike cycle will be a shallow one.
- Base case: expect RBI to pause in the near term
- Probability of further rate hikes remain over the next 12 months.
Nomura
- Having frontloaded hikes, we now expect rates to be left unchanged for the time being.
- Expect any positive reaction in rupee to be limited, as this decision was widely anticipated.
- Maintain cautious view on rupee, in line with the region.
UBS
- Headline CPI inflation has peaked in June and will likely head lower over the next 6-months.
- If CPI inflation sustains higher on a sustained basis, it would call for more policy tightening.
- Base case: expect MPC to go in for an extended pause over the next six months.
- If financial stability concerns worsen from here, the risk of a 100 basis points tightening cycle (of which 50 basis points are already done) appears very much alive.
Citi
- Hiking cycle not yet over
- There is still no visibility of RBI meeting its inflation target of 4 percent in its forecast horizon.
- Pencil in another 25-50 basis points hike for 2018-19.
- But expect RBI to skip Oct policy as it awaits the lagged transmission of the 50bps rate hike.
Morgan Stanley
- With growth recovery on track and inflation forecast to rise, expect one more rate hike in the October meeting.
- Further rate hikes contingent on the inflation outlook.