Stocks To Watch: Ambuja Cements, Aurobindo Pharma, Bosch, Indiabulls Ventures, UCO Bank

Indian equity benchmarks halted three-day losing streak, closing higher for the fourth time this month. The S&P BSE Sensex Index closed 0.4 percent higher at 33,844.86, and the NSE Nifty 50 Index closed at 10,397.45, up 0.4 percent.

Asian stocks declined with U.S. equity index futures as investors adjust to the Federal Reserve’s latest comments on the economy.

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, fell 0.5 percent to 10,328 as of 7:15 a.m.

Here Are The Stocks To Watch Out For In Thursday’s Trade

• Hatsun Agro board approved raising up to Rs 550 crore via rights issue.
• Cyient board approved reduction of non-resident investment from existing 100 percent to 49 percent.
• UCO Bank to raise Rs 6,507 crore via preferential issue to the government.
• Vardhman Special Steels raised Rs 50 crore via QIP.
• Mahindra Logistics opened its largest multi-user facility in Chakan, Pune.

The Big Nifty Rejig

More details here

F&O Setup

• Nifty February futures closed at 10,393, a discount of 4.5 points versus 16 points.
• Nifty March Futures trading at 10,414.8, premium of 17 points versus 11 points.
• All series-Nifty Open Interest down 4 percent, Bank Nifty Open Interest down 2 percent.
• Rollover-Nifty Rollover at 39 percent, Bank Nifty at 36 percent.
• India VIX ended at 15.9, down 5.6 percent.
• Maximum Open Interest for February series at 11,500 call strike, Open Interest at 47.6 lakh, Open Interest up 7 percent.
• Maximum Open Interest for February series at 10,300 Put, Open Interest at 65.5 lakh, up 19 percent.
• March series Maximum Open Interest at 10,000 Put and 11,000 Call.

F&O Ban

• In Ban: Balrampur Chini, Fortis Healthcare, GMR Infrastructure, IFCI, Jain Irrigation, JP Associates
• New in ban: None
• Out of ban: Dish TV

Alert: Only intraday positions can be taken in stocks which are in F&O ban. There is a penalty in case of a rollover of these intraday positions.

Active Stock Futures

Bulk Deals

• Gateway Distriparks: Promoter Prem Kishan Gupta bought 6 lakh shares, or 0.6 percent equity, at Rs 198 each.
• Indiabulls Ventures: Valiant Mauritius Partners Offshore Limited bought 29.88 lakh equity, 0.7 percent stake at Rs 255 each.
• South West Pinnacle: IIFL Wealth Finance sold 94,400 shares at Rs 85.62 each.

Brokerage Radar

Credit Suisse on Britannia

• Initiated ‘Outperform’ with price target of Rs 5,550.
• Britannia well positioned to consistently gain market share.
• Market share to gradually increase to high thirties.
• Margin expansion to re-start as input costs are coming off.
• Expect margins to expand from April.
• Non-biscuit segment holds promise in long run, but dairy is a concern.
• Positives: strong in fast growing segment, distribution expansion in 'Hindi' belt, launch of differentiated premium products, and gain share in value segment.

Credit Suisse on Escorts

• Maintained ‘Outperform’ with price target of Rs 1,040.
• Dealer check suggests healthy demand trend in tractors.
• Offtake strong even in usually lean January month.
• Dealers expect momentum to continue for next few months.
• Dealers acknowledge positive changes in company’s functioning over past few years.
• Tie up with DLL group also helping volumes.
• Prefer Escorts on tractor demand, margin expansion and attractive valuations.
• Expect strong earnings of with compounded growth rate of 25 percent through the financial years till March 2020.

Citi on Dish TV

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 90 from Rs 100.
• Though current Ebitda far worse than peers, expect better trends in the next fiscal.
• Merger likely to be concluded in next few days.
• Combined entity listing should happen in March.
• Merger is key to stock performance.
• Stock is attractively priced post the underperformance.
• Could see decent returns with the merger.

HSBC on Idea Cellular

• Maintained ‘Reduce’ with price target of Rs 75.
• Idea-Vodafone combined needs $5.8 billion to invest in CAPEX.
• Merged entity could explore bringing in a strategic partner before merger completion.
• Strategic partner might come in to fund the CAPEX.
• Without 4G capex, the merged entity could lose 8-10 percent market share.

HSBC on M&M

• Maintained ‘Buy’; raised price target to Rs 840 from Rs 795.
• Delay in new launches is discomforting, but doesn’t impact the stock.
• Tractor business is likely to surprise positively in next fiscal as well.
• Expect strong growth of 10-12 percent in the next fiscal.
• Near-term outlook for the auto and tractor businesses appears positive.
• Positives: strong rural demand, good commercial vehicle growth and upside from new launches.

Media Reports

• J&K Bank discloses Choksi loan default; bank yet to take action to recover dues of Rs 152 crore (Economic Times).
• Tatas asked to revisit Bhushan Power deal; lenders said to be against buying entire equity of two Bhushan Power & Steel arms (Economic Times).
• Religare’s new auditor says PW submitted ‘unmodified report’ (Economic Times).