Nifty Reclaims 8,800 In Listless Trade; Bank Of Baroda Slumps 10.5%

Indian shares closed little changed, with a gauge of the country’s 50 largest companies extending its winning streak to day four led by banks and power producers.

The S&P BSE Sensex was little changed at 28,351 while the NSE Nifty advanced 0.1 percent to 8,805. While the benchmarks managed to eked out minors gains, the market breadth highlighted the underlying weakness in trade.

About 1,110 stocks declined, 553 advanced and 276 remained unchanged. Most of the declines were seen in the small and the midcap stocks.

Lancelot D Cunha, CEO, ITI Wealth Management said the market is struggling to break out of the upper range due to “subdued growth” in corporate earnings. “We think the corporates will take another quarter or two to get back to the pre-demonetisation growth levels,” he told BloombergQuint in a phone interview.

Despite this, he said the market doesn’t seem expensive to him. “The next leg of the rally will depend on foreign flows. If we get higher flows, then we could easily scale the previous highs on the Nifty,” he said.

He advised people who have put in money in equities to stay invested. “For the ones who are not invested, but want to, can put in money at every correction,” he said.

The paper and related products company gained for the nineth consecutive session on the BSE, rising as much as 4 percent today

• Volumes are at 10 times its previous 20-day average
• It is up 26 percent in February so far
• The company reported its December quarter earnings on Friday. Net profit rose to Rs 8.4 crore from Rs 0.5 crore in the year-ago quarter
• Market Cap: Rs 190 crore

Shares of the metal producer pared most of its gains after third quarter earnings missed street estimates.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 320 crore, compared to Rs 396 crore anticipated by analysts in a Bloomberg poll. It clocked net sales of Rs 9,827 crore for the quarter in focus versus estimate of Rs 9,400 crore.

The EBITDA margin stood at 11.95 percent versus 7.75 percent YoY.

Shares of the auto ancillary maker swung between gains and losses after reporting third quarter earnings.

The company’s consolidated net profit grew 28 percent to Rs 547 crore from Rs 427 crore for the October to December quarter year-on-year ahead of consensus expectations.

The company’s consolidated revenue grew 12.5 percent to Rs 10,797 crore from Rs 9,598 crore in the same quarter last year driven by its subsidiaries Samvardhana Motherson Peguform (SMP) and Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR).

Shares of the real estate developer gained as much as 4.9 percent after it reported third quarter earnings.

• Q3 net Rs 20.61 crore versus Rs 5.58 crore YoY
• Revenue Rs 83.69 crore versus Rs 77.12 crore YoY

Ruby Mills Snaps 2-Day Losing Streak

Ruby Mills snapped a two-day losing streak and is trading with gains of around 4 percent for the day

• The stock, with market cap of Rs 600 crore, has lost around 3.5 percent in the past two sessions.
• Volumes remain strong at 7.27 times its 20-day average on the BSE.

Shares of the country’s second largest IT services provider gained 0.7 percent, extending gains to day 3, as CEO Vishal Sikka and its founders seemed to have called off a boardroom tussle.

Speaking at a Kotak Institutional Equities’ Chasing Growth conference, Sikka said he has a “very warm relationship” with Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy. The comments come on the back of corporate governance issues raised by some of the company’s founders, including Murthy.

Sikka said the company board will consider its capital allocation policy from time-to-time, citing the ongoing ‘drama’ in media as distraction. The Infosys CEO said the company is managing to keep operating margins steady, despite the challenging environment. Sikka added that attrition has come down significantly.

You can catch all the live updates here.

The rupee was trading lower by 10 paise at 66.98 against the U.S. dollar in early trade today after the American currency gained strength overseas.

Besides, industrial production contracting to four-month low of 0.4 per cent in December too weighed on the rupee.

Forex dealers said increased demand for the US currency from importers and dollar's gain against other currencies overseas put pressure on the rupee. They said, however, a higher opening in the domestic equity market capped the losses.

On Friday, the rupee had ended marginally lower by 3 paise at 66.88 against the dollar because of stray demand coming in from importers and banks for the American currency.

PTI

Movers & Shakers: Idea Cellular, Coal India, Hindustan Motors And More

Indian shares climbed for a third straight session, tracking an extended rally in global equities as rumours about the demise of reflation trades look to have been at least a little exaggerated.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.4 percent to 28,458 while the NSE Nifty advanced 0.4 percent as well to 8,826. The market breadth was skewed in favour of the buyers. About 868 stocks advanced, 600 declined and 431 remained unchanged on the NSE.

• Container Corporation of India to consider free-shares issue
• Muthoot Finance to consider fund raising via NCDs public issue
• Repco Home Finance to consider to raise $40m via SRNCDs to IFC
• SKF India to consider buy-back of its equity shares
• Larsen & Toubro to make strategic announcement in defense
• Ballarpur lenders said to propose debt restructuring (Economic Times)

For a complete list of stocks to watch, click HERE

• 5:30pm: India Jan. consumer price inflation; est. 3.24 percent (prior 3.41 percent)
• 02/13-02/15: India Jan. exports; no estimate (prior +5.7 percent)

Imports; no estimate (prior +0.5 percent)
Trade Balance; -$10.265b (prior -$10.369b)

• India December industrial production -0.4 percent YoY versus estimate 1.2 percent
• India’s Jan. oil demand falls 4.5 percent YoY to 15.5 million tonne
• Bond volatility soars fivefold in India on RBI policy black box
• India solar tariffs fall to record low of 5 cents a unit
• India seeks bids from valuers on BEML by 3pm March 3
• Sebi reviews financial close out for corporate bonds
• National Company Law Tribunal to hear Mistry versus Tata case
• India RBI net bought $463 million of forex in December in spot market
• Forex reserves rise $1.6 billion to $363.1 billion in week to Feb. 3: RBI
• India water reservoirs hold 27 percent more water than a year earlier
• India’s Sebi board proposes action plan for FY18
• India names career bureaucrat Tyagi stock market regulator
• India says Rs 1,240 crore cash deposited in Shell companies Nov.- Dec.
• India needs to buy more than 2m tons sugar in 2016-17: ED&F Man
• Global funds buy Rs 505 crore of local stocks; domestic funds sell Rs 225 crore on Feb. 10: Provisional data
• SEBI said to be opening commodity derivatives market (Mint)
• India said to plan sale of up to 10 percent of Coal India (Economic Times)
• RBI’s Patel sees scope for further cut in bank lending rate (PTI)
• India banks said to submit new debt recast plan to RBI (Economic Times)
• India’s Sebi to allow options trading in commodities (CNBC- TV18)

It's a power-packed week and it kicks-off with the consumer price inflation print today. The key data keenly watched by the central bank is likely to be 3.24 percent in January, slower than the 3.41 percent a month before.

If the data comes in around the forecast level, it may help calm some nerves after the market was left jolted by the RBI's change in stance from accommodative to neutral.

We may see the yield on the 10-year note drop a bit from the current level of 6.81 percent but of course, don’t be too optimistic as the broader mood stays negative.

Good Morning!

The Nifty futures on the Singapore Stock Exchange, an early indicator of Nifty’s performance in India, climbed 0.4 percent to 8,846.

Asian stocks extended a global rally this morning, as investors looked ahead to data that will provide detail on the strength of the U.S. consumer prices and speeched from a range of Federal Reserve officials.

U.S. equities climbed to record high on Friday following President Donald Trump’s pledge that a “phenomenal” plan to overhaul business taxes will be released within weeks. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index snapped a six-week losing streak, while the yen weakened after Shinzo Abe and Trump refrained from arguing about currency levels during the Japanese prime minister’s two-day visit to Washington.

Data on Monday showed Japan’s economy continued on a moderate growth path during the final quarter of 2016, driven by rising exports and business investment.

Brent crude futures for April delivery cooled to $56.55 after running up for three straight sessions. The International Energy Agency said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) achieved a record 90 percent initial compliance with a production cut accord, while demand grew faster than expected.