Sensex, Nifty End Higher For Second Consecutive Week 

Indian equity benchmarks end higher for the second consecutive week.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.54 percent this week and the NSE Nifty 50 ended 0.67 percent higher.

The 31-share index closed nearly 200 points higher today at 36,063.81 and the 50-stock index ended at 10,863.50, up 0.66 percent.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 1,372 stocks advanced and 361 shares declined on National Stock Exchange. All the 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Media Index’s 3.2 percent rally.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech and Baring Private Equity Asia are the leading bidders for a major stake in Mindtree, Bloomberg reported quoting people familiar with the matter.

JK Paper

• Stock rose as much as 10.5 percent to Rs 142.30.
• Trading volume was almost triple its 20-day average.

Century Plyboards

• Stock rose as much as 9.4 percent to Rs 183.
• Trading volume was almost 10 times its 20-day average.

Aavas Financiers

• Stock rose as much as 8.1 percent to Rs 1,085.
• Trading volume was more than nine times its 20-day average.

CreditAccess Grameen

• Stock rose as much as 6.8 percent to Rs 444.85.
• Trading volume was more than 10 times its 20-day average.

Tata Group is exploring strategic options for its Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc unit including a potential stake sale in the struggling luxury carmaker, Bloomberg reported quoting people familiar with the matter.

Shares of the company rose as much as 3.7 percent to Rs 184.

• Reliance Power: Stock rose as much as 12.1 percent to Rs 12.05.
• Oriental Bank of Commerce: Stock rose as much as 11 percent to Rs 92.
• Magma Fincorp: Stock rose as much as 12.5 percent to Rs 115.20.
• SAIL: Stock rose as much as 9.5 percent to Rs 52.85.

Eicher Motors Ltd.’s VE Commercial Vehicles’ sales declined 6.7 percent on a yearly basis to 6,428 units, according to its stock exchange filing.

Shares of the company fell as much as 0.8 percent to 19,720.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. erased gains and fell as much as 0.74 percent to Rs 641.

The company’s auto sales rose 10 percent on a yearly basis last month while its tractor sales fell 8 percent, according to its stock exchange filing.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Passenger vehicle sales rose 17 percent to 26,109 units.
• Utility vehicle sales rose 16 percent to 24349 units.
• Sales of cars and vans including company’s unit Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd. rose 25 percent to 1,760 units.
• Commercial vehicle sales rose 1 percent to 21,154 units.
• Light commercial vehicle sales up to 3.5T rose 2 percent to 19,647 units.
• Light commercial vehicle sales above 3.5T fell 8 percent to 821 units.
• Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales fell 17 percent to 686 units.
• Three wheeler sales rose 10 percent to 5,652 units.
• Total domestic vehicle sales rose 9 percent to 52,915 units.
• Total exports rose 16 percent to 3,090 units.

Tractor Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic sales fell 7 percent to 18,105 units.
• Exports fell 28 percent to 873 units.

Venky's India and HUDCO fell the most number of days in the past 12 months, data compiled from Bloomberg showed. Out of 248 trading days in the past 52 weeks, both the stocks declined 153 trading sessions.

Shares of the SML Isuzu Ltd. surged nearly 16 percent intraday to Rs 656.45 apiece.

The company’s sales rose 33 percent year-on-year to 1,282 units in February, the busmaker said in a stock exchange notification.

Trading volume was 1.3 times its 30-day average, Bloomberg data showed.

Shares of the truck and bus maker erased gains and fell as much as 2.4 percent to Rs 84.40.

Ashok Leyland’s sales were flat at 18,245 units in February, according to its stock exchange filing.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic medium and heavy commercial truck sales fell 4 percent to 11,117 units.
• Domestic medium and heavy commercial bus sales rose 16 percent to 1,504 units.
• Total domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales declined 2 percent to 12,621 units.
• Domestic light commercial vehicle sales rose 9 percent to 4,731 units.
• Total domestic vehicle sales rose 1 percent to 17,352 units.

Sales Including Exports (YoY)

• Total Medium and heavy commercial truck sales fell 4 percent to 11,536 units.
• Total Medium and heavy commercial bus sales were flat at 1,755 units.
• Total medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales fell 3 percent to 13,291 units.
• Total light commercial vehicle sales rose 11 percent to 4,954 units.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. pared gains and traded 0.6 percent higher at 6,780.65.

The company any sold 1.48 lakh units last month, a decline of 0.8 percent from the year-ago period, India’s largest carmaker said in an exchange filing.

Key Sales highlights (YoY)

• Sales of mini segment fell 26.7 percent to 24,751 units.
• Sales of compact segment rose 11.4 percent to 72,678 units.
• Sales of Ciaz fell 37 percent to 3,084 units.
• Sales of utility vehicles rose 7.4 percent to 21,834 units.
• Sales of Vans rose 17.2 percent to 14,565 units.
• Sales of Super Carry rose 74.8 percent to 2,188 units.
• Total domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 0.2 percent to 1.36 lakh units.
• Total domestic sales rose 0.9 percent to 1.39 lakh units.
• Total exports slumped 19.6 percent to 9,582 units.

The sales of new WagonR are reported under compact segment and the the sales number of old discontinued WagonR are however, reported in the mini sub-segment effective February 2019, the company said.

India’s manufacturing sector activity expanded in February from the previous month.

The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 54.3 last month from 53.9 in January. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.

Shares of Jet Airways rose as much as 6.1 percent to Rs 237.05.

Naresh Goyal agreed to step down as chairman of Jet Airways Ltd. to allow the board to move ahead with a debt recast plan for rescuing the carrier he founded, according to two people with direct knowledge of the development. (Read the full story here).

Anup Engineering started trading at Rs 474.15 per share after demerging from Arvind.

Shares of Bharti Airtel fell as much as 3.9 percent to Rs 305.55. the stock was the worst performer on Sensex and Nifty.

The company’s board approved raising Rs 32,000—Rs 25,000 crore via a rights issue and rest through perpetual bonds—with the rights issue price set at Rs 220 per share which at a discount of 31 percent to the closing price. The rights entitlement ratio set at 19 shares for every 67 shares held by shareholders.

Here's what analysts had to say about Bharti Airtel:

CLSA

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 410
• Fund raising will lower loss per share by 44 percent in 2019-20 and boost EPS estimates for 2020-21 by 42 percent.
• Fund raise to offer sufficient headroom to invest in networks/future spectrum auctions.
• Airtel can deleverage balance sheet further by Rs 25,000 crore from stake sale in Africa and Infratel.

UBS

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 415.
• Capital raise provides adequate financial muscle amid intense competitive environment.
• Expect the rights issue to be completed by the first quarter of the next financial year.
• Stock is attractively valued.

Shares of Bajaj Auto rose as much as 1.5 percent to Rs 2,943 after falling 0.8 percent as the company reported its sales data for February.

The company sold 3.93 lakh units last month, an increase of 10 percent from February 2018, the Pune-based automaker said in an exchange filing.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic motorcycle sales rose 6 percent to 1.86 lakh units.
• Motorcycle exports rose 16 percent to 1.41 lakh units.
• Total motorcycle sales rose 10 percent 3.27 lakh units.
• Domestic commercial vehicles sales declined 9 percent to 35,183 units.
• Commercial vehicles’ exports jumped 37 percent to 29,921 units.
• Total commercial vehicle sales rose 8 percent to 65,104 units.
• Total domestic sales rose 4 percent to 2.21 lakh units.
• Total exports rose 19 percent to 1.71 lakh units.

Shares of SBI Life Insurance fell as much as 12.1 percent, the worst fall since its listing on Bombay Stock Exchange, to Rs 510.

About 7.88 crore shares or 7.9 percent equity of the company changed hands in 35 block deals on BSE, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Indian equity benchmarks opened higher after declining for the three consecutive trading sessions.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.66 percent to 36,104.24 and the NSE Nifty 50 rose as much as 0.63 percent to 10,860.80.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of sellers. About 943 stocks advanced and 378 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

All the 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Metal Index’s 0.99 percent gain.

Escorts Ltd. sold 7,240 tractors last month, an increase of 12 percent from the year ago period, according to its exchange filing.

Key Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic sales rose 9.9 percent to 6,918 units.
• Export sales shot up 92.8 percent to 322 units.

Shares of Escorts rose as much as 2.8 percent to Rs 676.20 after the announcement.

The Indian rupee opened a little changed at 70.79 against the U.S. dollar.

The rupee may weaken to 80 per dollar by September as a dovish turn by the central bank lowers the currency’s yield appeal, said Sue Trinh, head of Asia forex strategy at RBC in Hong Kong. The rupee rose on Thursday to end at 70.74 per dollar with sentiment helped by hopes of a de-escalation of tension between India and Pakistan.

Bonds are set to gain on Friday, helped by data which showed India's economy slowing down considerably in the October-December quarter. And with the CSO downgrading growth projections for this year fiscal to 7 percent, India is estimated to grow at 6.5 percent in January-March quarter.

This is likely to see the central bank step in with more rate cuts, with a benign inflationary environment already seeing it change its stance in February. The yield on India’s most-traded debt due January 2028 fell eight basis points to 7.59 percent after rising by nine basis points on Wednesday.

F&O Cues

• Nifty March futures closed trading at 10857, premium of 65 points.
• Max open interest for March 28 series at 11,000 Call, (open interest at 15.8 lakh shares)
• Max open interest for March 28 series at 10,600 Put, (open interest at 24.9 lakh shares)

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.71 versus 1.37.
• Bank Nifty PCR at 1.39 versus 1.08.

On Bharti Airtel

CLSA

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 410
• Fund raising will lower loss per share by 44 percent in 2019-20 and boost EPS estimates for 2020-21 by 42 percent.
• Fund raise to offer sufficient headroom to invest in networks/future spectrum auctions.
• Airtel can deleverage balance sheet further by Rs 25,000 crore from stake sale in Africa and Infratel.

UBS

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 415.
• Capital raise provides adequate financial muscle amid intense competitive environment.
• Expect the rights issue to be completed by the first quarter of the next financial year.
• Stock is attractively valued.

More Calls

JPM on SAIL

• Upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’; maintained price target of Rs 78.
• Upgrade to Overweight on favorable risk-reward ratio.
• Benefits from higher steel prices driven by higher iron ore prices.
• Market not pricing in higher iron ore and volumes for SAIL.

UBS on Chennai Petroleum

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 400 from Rs 470.
• Cut EPS estimates to factor in lower spreads on key refining products.
• Scaling up residual project could boost GRM.
• IMO 2020 implementation will benefit.

Macquarie on ONGC

• Maintained ‘Outperform’ with a price target of Rs 210.
• Specific risks related to ONGC is already priced in.
• See a fat margin of safety and limited downside.
• Catalyst: elections, strong dividend, consensus EPS upgrades, gas price reforms.

• Ajanta Pharma, Coal India share buyback window opens.
• Anup Engineering (Demerged Entity of Arvind) to get listed.
• Maithan Alloys, Jindal Stainless to move into short term ASM Framework.
• SREI Infra Finance, Reliance Communications, Andhra Cements price band revised to 20 percent.

• Tata Motors DVR: SBI MF acquired 37.32 lakh shares or 0.73 percent equity at Rs 87.74 each.
• Reliance Infra: STCI Finance sold 18.24 lakh shares or 0.71 percent equity at Rs 123.8 each.

• Bharti Airtel: Board approved raising Rs 32,000—Rs 25,000 crore via a rights issue and rest through perpetual bonds—with the rights issue price set at Rs 220 per share which at a discount of 31 percent to the closing price. The rights entitlement ratio set at 19 shares for every 67 shares held by shareholders.
• Jet Airways Founder Naresh Goyal agreed to step down as chairman. Additionally, six more aircraft have been grounded due to non-payment. That makes it 19 grounded planes. The company says it making so making all efforts to minimise disruption of its network.
• Orissa Minerals Development Company said it will pay Rs 400 crore as a penalty to Odisha Government due to violation of environmental clearance and other norms. The market capitalisation of the company stands at Rs 493 crore as on Feb. 28.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank reduced MCLR by 5 basis points across various tenors. One month MCLR at 8.35 percent and one year MCLR at 9 percent.
• HDFC to consider interim dividend on March 6.
• Dewan Housing Finance: CRISIL downgraded the credit rating for short term borrowings worth Rs 2,525 crore to ‘A1’ from ‘A1+’ with a rating watch of negative implications. The reason given by the rating agency is that DHFL has shown limited progress in raising funds in last one month, cascading impact on business operations and slower buildup of balance sheet liquidity.
• HDFC Bank acquired 9.1 percent stake in CSC E-Governance Services for Rs 14.62 crore.
• Infosys said that independent director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw via her portfolio management services sold 1,600 shares of the company without obtaining pre-clearance of trade. The technology company says the portfolio manager unilaterally took the decision to conduct the trade. Board determines this act as violation of the company’s insider trading policy and has fined Kiran Mazumdar Shaw a penalty of Rs 9,50,000 which shall be payable to a charitable organisation of her choice.
• Motherson Sumi arm signed agreement with the U.K.-based Bombardier Transportation to acquire the latter’s assets in connection with production and installation of electrical components and systems for applications in the rail industry. The transaction is valued at 10.9 million pounds.
• Vedanta’s Zinc mine in South Africa officially opened. The project was given a go-ahead in 2014 and Gamsberg Reserve, South Africa Mine has reserve of 214 MT and estimated life of 30+ years. The company stated in its press release that it is pursuing a feasibility study into the development and construction of a smelter-refinery complex in the same area.
• Larsen & Toubro stated that media making allegations on settlement by Cognizant Technology Solutions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission acknowledging violations in regulations in connection with certain construction projects in India. The construction company clarified that it was not aware of any evidence that supported the company's involvement in making the alleged improper payments.
• Vodafone Idea: Cabinet approved FDI proposal of up to Rs 25,000 crore. Approval was required for the proposed rights issue.
• Sugar Companies: Government approved Rs 10,540 crore soft loan to help sugar mills clear cane arrears.
• Cabinet approves FAME 2 policy at the cost of Rs 10,000 crore.
• HDFC and Vedanta board to meet on March 6 to consider dividend payment.
• Hathway Cable: RIL group entities, promoters, acquired 20.61 percent stake from public in open offer.

• Brent crude ended 0.54 percent lower at $66.03 per barrel.
• West Texas Intermediate rose 0.1 percent to $57.27 a barrel.
• Gold was steady at $1,313.49 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Nickel resumed declines after a one-day breather, ended 0.04 percent lower.
• Copper ended higher for the fifth day, up 0.04 percent.
• Aluminium halted a two-day rally, ended 0.57 percent lower.
• Lead ended higher for the seventh day, up 0.7 percent.
• Zinc ended higher for the third day, up 1.2 percent.
• Tin halted a two-day decline, ended 0.56 percent higher.

Good Morning!

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, fluctuated between gains and losses to trade a little changed at 10,856 as of 8:10 a.m.

Asian stocks edged higher Friday as the latest reading on China’s economy came in above expectations.

Japanese shares were helped by weakness in the yen, while Chinese equities were bolstered by Caixin manufacturing PMI data that was better than expected.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell podcast.