Nifty Ends Below 9,050; I.T., Metals, Pharma Stocks Drag

Indian shares ended the first trading day of the week with losses led by Metals, Technology and Pharma stocks. The Nifty PSU Bank index was the only sectoral gainer among the 12 sectoral indices.

The NSE Nifty 50 index failed to hold on to the 9,050 mark, ending 0.7 percent lower at 9,045. The S&P BSE Sensex index shed more than 150 points, ending at 29,237, down 0.6 percent.

Advanced-Decline ratio was skewed firmly in favour of the sellers. 992 stocks ended on the losing side compared to 648 stocks that gained. 296 stocks ended unchanged.

Shares of the seed producer swung between gains and losses after it approved a buyback plan. The company will buy back up to 29.6 lakh shares or 4.3 percent of equity at Rs 675 each.

The company plans to spend up to Rs 200 crore for the share buyback plan, it said in its filing. The stock is currently trading at Rs 544 apiece, down 2.5 percent.

• The stock rose as much as 7.8 percent today.
• Volumes at 3.85 times the 20-day average on the NSE.
• The furniture maker is valued at Rs 2,948.8 crore.
• Dolly Khanna holds 1.59 percent in the company.
• The stock has lost 5.57 percent in the last four days.

Shares of Aban Offshore Ltd. erased losses and surged as much as 2.63 percent to Rs 228 after it received a letter of award from ONGC for the charter hire of a drillship Aban ice for a period of three years. The value of the contract is Rs 471 crore and the deployment is expected to commence during the second quarter of calender year 2017, the company’s press release said.

The Building and Factories Business segment of the construction arm of Larsen & Toubro has won orders worth Rs 2,490 crore.

The exchange filing says that the company has won an order from a government organization for the construction of a hospital building, a medical institute, a nursing college, a school for paramedics, an auditorium, hostels, residential quarters along with associated works in New Delhi.

Another design and build contract has been bagged by the company to construct a state-of-the-art technical building in Maharashtra.

The third order is for the construction of a residential project in Bengaluru in Karnataka.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro were trading little changed at Rs 1,549.

• Oracle Financial Services has 12.8 lakh shares change hcnds in a single block
• JSW Steel has 1.5 crore shares change hands in two blocks

Private weather forecasting agency Skymet has India's monsoon season for the year 2017 is likely to remain below normal at 95 percent of the long period average (LPA) from June to September.

According to Skymet:

• There is 0 percent chance of an excess monsoon
• 10 percent chance of an above normal monsoon
• 50 percent chance of a normal monsoon
• 25 percent chance of a below normal monsoon and
• 15 percent chance of a drought

• Virinchi Ltd. hit the 5 percent upper circuit for the third consecutive session.
• Volumes are at three times the 20-day moving average.
• The stock has gained around 24 percent in the last five trading sessions.
• The information technology products and services company has a market capitalisation of Rs 190 crore.
• Investor Porinju Veliyath's investment arm Equity Intelligence India Private Ltd. owns 1.28 percent stake in the company.

Shares of GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd. jumped as much as 6.9 percent to Rs 6.20, the most since February 14, after the company completed the sale of its 33 percent stake in the Bengaluru Airport to FIH Mauritius and Fairfax for over Rs 2,000 crore.

Larsen and Toubro's construction arm won an order for its Water and Effluent Treatment business segment worth Rs 705 crore. The project will be executed in a joint venture with Shriram EPC.

The order involves the extension of the water transmission pipeline in Tanzania. The JV will be involved in the engineering, procurement and construction of the same.

Shares of Larsen And Toubro were trading lower by 0.34 percent at Rs 1,546

Rupee strengthened by 28 paise to 65.13 against the dollar in early trade on increased selling of the U.S. currency by banks and exporters.

Besides that, the local currency also benefited from the dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas. However, dealers said a lower opening of the domestic equity market capped the gain.

On Friday, the rupee had gained 11 paise to end at 65.41 against the American currency on fresh bouts of dollar selling by exporters and banks.

Shares of the McDonald’s chain operator in India rose as much as 6.3 percent, the most since March 1. Global brokerage firm CLSA rated the stock a new buy with a price target of Rs 300 – around 50 percent higher than its 6-month average closing price.

Consumer sentiment is “at a trough” in urban India, CLSA said in an investor note, adding a pickup will drive a strong growth in sales. It sees McDonald’s raising royalty payments to Westlife Development by around 1 percent annually over fiscal years 2018-2020.

Movers & Shakers: Coal India, Reliance Industries, State Bank Of India

Indian shares declined snapping a two-day gaining streak following weak trade in Asian peers led by metal producers and drug makers.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.3 percent to 29,324 while the NSE Nifty fell 0.3 percent to 9,074. The market breadth, however, was encouraging with more number of buyers than sellers. About 2 stocks advanced to every 1 declining stock.

All sectoral indices, except the Nifty PSU Bank index (+0.5 percent), were trading lower.

• Andhra Bank to consider share sale to govt, QIP, FPO
• Bajaj Auto: Says alliance with Kawasaki in India to end April 1
• Bank of Maharashtra: To raise up to Rs 300 crore via issue of shares to government
• Bharat Forge: Says to divest rest 26 percent joint venture stake with Alstom after some approvals
• Coal India: Penalized Rs 590 crore by the antitrust regulator CCI

• Colgate Palmolive India, MindTree to consider mid-year dividend
• Fortis Healthcare: Said to mull Singapore hospital trust buyout
• Gujarat NRE: Initiates corporate insolvency resolution process
• Healthcare Global: To expand cancer centre operation in Nashik
• Jain Irrigation: Says shareholders approved issue up to $75 million of FCCBs
• Kaveri Seed Co. to consider buy back of its shares
• Reliance Industries: Reliance Industries barred from trading futures for a year
• State Bank of India: Approves plan to sell 8 percent stake in SBI Life via IPO
• Subex: Approves issue up to $12 million of fresh shares to investors
• Tata Power: Says units agree to sell Nelito shares to DTS Corp.
• UCO Bank: Says receive ministry’s letter for Rs 1,150 crore capital infusion to bank by government
• United Bank of India to consider on capital infusion by government

• India expects progress on state-run oil cos integration FY18
• India plans 10 million tonne steel silos for food storage by 2020
• Forex reserves rise $2.7 billion to $366.8 billion in week to March 17: RBI
• Moderate growth seen in India’s first half fertilizer demand: ICRA
• India office market growth to plateau soon: Knight Frank
• Global funds buy Rs 543 crore of local stocks; domestic funds buy Rs 117 crore on March 24: Provisional data
• Credit Suisse sees protectionist sentiment spurring EM M&A
• India government may table GST bills in Parliament today (PTI)
• JSW Group to invest Rs 7,000 crore more in ports by 2020
• Motherson Sumi said considering $600 million bid for Bosch unit (Economic Times)
• TPG, Blackstone, Carlyle show interest in Sintex Plastics (Mint)

Great news for traders betting against the dollar. The greenback is down in early trading, and is on the verge of giving back all its post-election gains as investors become pessimistic about President Donald Trump's ability to push through his economic agenda. All that fear threatens to topple bullish dollar bets.

Indian rupee forwards are up against the dollar in the line with other Asian currencies. Rupee gained for a fifth week on continued inflows into nation’s stocks and bonds. In the morning trade, the Japanese yen is the biggest gainer, followed by the south Korean won.

Indian states will sell Rs 15,090 crore of bonds on Monday versus the Rs 11,650 crore previously scheduled. The rise supplies of state bonds are weighing on the markets and the cut offs will be closely watched to see whether the spread widens.

Finance ministry met with bankers Friday on a new monetary tool to tackle excess liquidity. Any development on this front will be watched.

Good Morning!

The Singapore traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of Nifty’s performance in India, declined 0.2 percent to 9,093.

Asian stocks fell in early trade, as U.S. equity futures built on Friday’s declined and gold climbed with bonds as investors shunned risk assets amid increased scepticism of U.S. president’s ability to implement his economic agenda.

The dollar was on the verge of erasing the rally spurred by Trump’s election victory and the S&P 500 Index headed for its worst month since October.

On Friday, Republican leaders pulled their bill to repeal and replace Obamacare after it became clear they didn’t have the votes to pass it. Investors were left assessing the impact of the failed vote on the future of Trump’s pro-growth agenda after the battle captivated Wall Street for most of the week.

Oil traded near $48 per barrel after some Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producer nations voiced support to extend output cuts to counter global supply glut.