Indian Stocks Clock Second Weekly Loss Amid Mixed Start To Earnings

Indian stocks declined after the country’s largest drug maker slumped on regulatory concerns and investors weighed in a mixed start to the fourth quarter earnings season.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.2 percent to 29,353 while the NSE Nifty dropped almost 0.2 percent as well to 9,119. Both the key benchmarks extended their losing streak to week two.

Though the market has corrected over the past couple of week, the Nifty has managed to hold on to the 9,100-level. This, according to Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, technical analyst at Sharekhan, was a sign of strength.

“So long as the index stays above 9,000 on a closing basis, the trend both from a short to medium-term perspective remains on the upside,” he told BloombergQuint over phone. On the higher side, he expects the index to touch 9,300-9,340 in the short-term i.e. two or three weeks.

Shares of the country largest private bank rose over 2 percent after its fourth quarter earnings met street expectations.

The lender posted a net profit of Rs 3,990 crore for quarter-ended March, which was in-line with the Rs 3,940 crore anticipated by analysts in a Bloomberg poll. However, the provisions for the period stood at Rs 1,261.8 crore versus Rs 715.78 crore for the previous quarter.

• Gross bad loans 1.05 percent end-March, unchanged QoQ
• Interest income Rs 18,110 crore versus Rs 16,000 crore; expense Rs 9,060 crore versus Rs 8,540 crore
• Core net interest margin 4.3 percent
• To pay Rs 11 per share as dividend

Shares of the cement maker dropped as much as 2.8 percent after private equity firm KKR exited the company.

According to a Bloomberg News report, KKR Mauritius Cement Investment Ltd. has sold their entire 8.4 percent stake in Dalmia Bharat in open market. About 49 lakh shares, or 5.6 percent, changed hands via two block deals on the BSE, as per Bloomberg data.

Shares of Sun Pharma dropped to a 2-month low after the drug regulator made public 11 observations it made on its Dadra unit this month.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration noted incomplete laboratory records among potential manufacturing violations it observed during an inspection of Sun Pharma’s Dadra unit, according to Bloomberg News.

Other observations included failure to create accurate duplicates of key records, and to properly investigate drug batches that didn’t meet specifications, according to the FDA’s report on a Form 483 obtained by Bloomberg via a Freedom of Information request.

Setco Automative's 6-Day Surge

Setco Automative rose as much as 7.32 percent to trade near levels last seen in August 2016.

• The stock has gained 16 percent in the previous five trading sessions.
• Trading volumes are at 7.95 times the 20-day average on the National Stock Exchange.
• The auto parts manufacturer has a market capitalization of around Rs 620 crore.

Shares of the garment maker started trading on the National Stock Exchange at Rs 1,379.7 apiece. The owner of brands such as Bigboss and Force is listed on the Calcutta Stock Exchange.

The rupee weakened by 9 paise to 64.65 against the dollar in early trade on increased demand for the American currency from importers and banks.

Dealers said a firm dollar against some global currencies overseas also weighed on the rupee but a higher opening of the domestic equity market capped the fall.

The rupee edged higher by 2 paise against the American unit to close at 64.56 in yesterday's trade on emergence of mild selling of the American greenback by banks and exporters.

PTI

Shares of the financial services firm dropped as much as 5.5 percent, the most since March 9, after about 1.3 crore shares changed hands on BSE.

The shares changed hands in three block deals, according to Bloomberg data.

• 1.34 lakh shares at Rs 625 each
• 48.4 lakh shares at Rs 615 each
• 81.4 lakh shares at Rs 621.2 each

The floor prce for the stake sale was set at Rs 607 per share, as per the term sheet. The stock, down for a second day, was the worst performer on S&P BSE200, BSE 500 indexes.

Buyers, sellers were not immediately known.

Movers & Shakers: MindTree, Reliance Industries, Radico Khaitan And More

Indian shares opened higher on the last trading day of the week, amid positive trade in Asian markets, led by shares of energy companies.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.5 percent to 29,584 while the NSE Nifty too climbed 0.5 percent to 9,183. The breadth, a general indicator of market direction, was firmly skewed in favour of the buyers. About 4 stocks gained to every 1 stock that declined on the NSE.

India's sovereign bonds will fall today. The reason: minutes of the RBI policy meeting that revealed a possible rate increase is now on the table.

One of the six policy makers went to the extent of suggesting a 25 basis points raise as a preemptive measure to contain inflation, which now seems to be a key concern for the central bank.

In fact, the governor suggested a close vigilance of inflationary pressures on the economy. Two key themes to keep a close watch includes pay panel revisions and GST.

Asian currency markets are mixed today, with the Taiwanese dollar leading the charts. Investors will be cautious ahead of some global events, including the French presidential election this weekend.

• Hindustan Zinc cut to underperform at IDFC Securities
• IndusInd Bank cut to accumulate at Dolat Capital Market
• ITD Cementation India raised to buy at Emkay Share
• Jyothy Lab cut to hold at Sharekhan
• Mindtree raised to neutral at Credit Suisse, price target Rs 450 per share
• Yes Bank cut to reduce at Asian Markets

• Max Financial Services holder seeks around $94 million selling 1 crore share sale (Terms). Offering can be increased by around 30 lakh shares
• National Aluminium OFS’s retail portion gets 584 percent demand, as per NSE data. Government revised offer to 9.2 percent stake, retain oversubscription

• CG Power: Birla mutual buys 5.67 million shares at Rs 79.5 per share while Sameena Mauritius sells 8.61 million shares at Rs 79.51 per share
• HDIL: Introduces affordable housing project at Mulund in Mumbai
• Max Financial Services: Holder to sell 1 crore shares at a 6.75 percent discount to last closing price
• MindTree: Fourth quarter profit at Rs 97.2 crore versus estimate of Rs 107 crore. Forex loss of Rs 228 crore
• National Aluminium: Government sold 9.2 percent shares via OFS after offer was oversubscribed almost 3 times
• Reliance Industries: Says Jamnagar projects on schedule
• SBI: To redeem 6.439 percent fixed rate hybrid tier-I notes on May 15
• Tech Mahindra: Expands relationship with Covisint
• Vedanta: Reports smelter, plant outages; says no injuries

For a complete list of stocks to watch, click HERE

Earnings To Watch

• ACC
• FAG Bearings India
• HDFC Bank
• Tata Metaliks
• Tinplate Company of India

• Billionaire KM Birla said to eye booming global carbon fiber market (Bloomberg)
• India 2017-18 sugar output estimated to reduce to 23.5 million tonnes: Datagro
• Taxman seeks Rs 30,000-crore penalty from Cairn Energy for non-payment of tax
• Warburg Pincus said to be in lead to buy part of Prem Watsa’s ICICI Lombard stake (Bloomberg)
• Inflation needs ‘close vigilance,’ says Governor Urjit Patel
• RBI said outlook for inflation faces several risks

• HDFC Bank to consider raising Rs 50,000 crore from debt in 12 months
• SBI to redeem 6.439 percent fixed rate hybrid tier 1 notes on May 15
• India plans to boost Delhi airport capacity by 50 percent in three years
• India government to issue sovereign gold bonds 2017-18 Series I
• Aluminum stocks have 23 percent upside on China reform: Morgan Stanley
• Kuwait in talks to build oil refinery in India
• Wipro said to cut workforce by 350-400 (CNBC-TV18)
• Global funds sell Rs 169 crore of local stocks; domestic funds buy Rs 8.82 crore yesterday: Provisional data

Good Morning!

It looks like Indian stocks are likely to extend their rebound for another day.

The Singapore traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of Nifty’s performance in India, gained 0.15 percent to 9,172.

Asian stocks gained in early trade, after Bank of Japan's Governor Haruhiko Kuroda maintained an accommodative monetary policy and on optimism for a U.S. tax overhaul.

Speaking a week before the BOJ monetary policy, Kuroda said that while the Japanese economy was doing better than a few months ago, the inflation rate was still sluggish.

Odds for a rate hike in June climbed toward 60 percent after Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan reiterated that three increases this year remain appropriate. The stock market also took solace from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Munich’s comments that Trump administration’s plan to reform taxes have progressed.

Oil snapped a four-day losing streak triggered by report that showed U.S. gasoline supplies increased for the first time since February, while crude output kept rising.