Sensex Ends Over 400 Points Higher; Nifty Clocks Best F&O Expiry In Four Months

Indian equity benchmarks ended near a six-month high on the derivatives expiry day.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed 1.08 percent or 412.84 points higher at 38,545.72 and the NSE Nifty 50 ended at 11,570, up 1.09 percent. The broader market index represented by the NSE Nifty 500 Index ended 1.05 percent higher.

In the March series, the 50-share gauge ended 7.2 percent higher, the best F&O expiry in four months.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 1,126 stocks advanced and 62 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

Ten out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE ended higher, led by the NSE Nifty PSU Bank Index’s 3.6 percent advance. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Metal Index was the only sectoral loser, down 0.28 percent.

Star Cement

• Shares rose as much as 4.7 percent to Rs 101.20 per share.
• Trading volume was almost 11 times the 20-day average.

FDC

• Shares declined 3.9 percent intraday to Rs 161.60 apiece.
• Trading volume was over six times the 20-day average.

DHFL

• Shares rose 13.3 percent intraday to Rs 154.80 per share.
• Trading volume was almost four times the 20-day average.

Oil India

• Shares rose 2.8 percent intraday to Rs 186.50 per share.
• Trading volume was almost three times the 20-day average.

New India Assurance

• Shares fell nearly 2.6 percent intraday to Rs 189.30 per share.
• The trading volume was almost four times the 20-day average.

Shares of Bandhan Bank rose as much as 8.1 percent, the most since Dec. 13, 2018, to Rs 532.40.

The lender received approval from the Reserve Bank of India to open 25 branches, its Managing Director and CEO CS Ghosh told BloombergQuint in an interaction. “The bank will close the year with 986 branches,” he added.

The stock advanced 11 percent in the past 12 months, compared to a 17 percent gain in the Sensex.

Shares of Infosys rose as much as 2.1 percent to Rs 745.

The company plans to acquire 75 percent stake in Stater, a unit of ABN Amro for 127.5 million euros, it said in a statement on the exchanges. The deal is subjected to customary closing adjustments, the statement added.

The stock traded at 18.2 times its estimated forward earnings per share compared to a 16.1 times for the two-year historical average, according to Bloomberg data.

European equities traded higher as investors rotated out of more defensive sectors, like utilities, and into miners.

Shares of the automotive air conditioner maker rose as much as 5.3 percent to Rs 264 apiece.

The New Delhi-based company plans to acquire certain home conditioning assets of Zamil Air Conditioners, the company said in an exchange filing.

The trading volume was almost four times the 20-day average, according to Bloomberg data.

About 10 lakh shares of Gujarat Gas changed hands in a block deal, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Indian equity benchmarks traded at day’s high. The S&P BSE Sensex jumped over 200 points and the NSE Nifty 50 traded above 11,500.

• Bank of Baroda: Shares of the PSU Bank rose as much as 4.2 percent to Rs 126.60. The central government plans to infuse Rs 5,042 crore through preferential allotment of equity shares, according to its stock exchange filing.
• Gruh Finance: Shares of the housing finance company fell as much as 3.5 percent to Rs 259.60. About 39 lakh shares changed hands in a block deal on Bombay Stock Exchange, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.
• M&M: Shares of the automaker reversed losses and rose as much as 0.4 percent to Rs 662.55. The company announced price hike of 0.5-2.7 percent of its range of personal and commercial vehicles effective April 1, it said in a statement on the exchanges. “The price hike will result in an increase of Rs 5,000-Rs 73,000 across its models,” the statement added.

Nifty’s 11,500 call option contract was among the most active Nifty option contracts on National Stock Exchange.

Premium on the contract fell 23.33 percent to Rs 22.20. Over 2.8 lakh shares were added to the open interest which stood at over 36.76 lakh shares.

Shares of Bata India extended gains for the third consecutive trading session to hit an all-time high.

The stock traded at 50 times its estimated forward earnings per share compared to a 39.4 times for the two-year historical average, according to Bloomberg data. The scrip returned 22.3 percent so far this year and advanced 91 percent in the past 12 months.

Shares of Lupin extended declines for the second consecutive trading session and fell as much as 0.47 percent to Rs 720.30, the lowest since May 2013.

The stock declined 14.1 percent so far this year and fell 0.9 percent in the past 12 months.

Shares of the construction company fluctuated between gains and losses to trade a little changed at Rs 1,370.

The company’s construction arm secured orders across various states in India, according to its stock exchange filing. The total deals are worth about Rs 1,000-2,500 crore, the statement added.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services rose as much as 1.6 percent to Rs 432.95.

The company increased its stake from 88.75 percent to 98.43 percent in Mahindra Rural Housing Finance for Rs 286.78 crore, according to its stock exchange filing.

Trading volume was almost triple its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The stock traded at 14.2 times estimated forward earnings per share compared to a 16.6 times for the two-year historical average.

Shares of the pharmaceutical company fluctuated between gains and losses to trade a little changed at Rs 459.75.

The company’s shareholders passed a resolution approving the divestment of the company’s Australia business, according to an exchange filing. The shareholders also passed a resolution for allowing transactions of up to Rs 500 crore with Solara Active Pharma Sciences Limited, commencing from FY19, the filing said.

The stock traded at 42 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year, Bloomberg data showed.

Indian equity benchmarks edged higher in the opening trade.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.24 percent to 38,225.61 and the NSE Nifty 50 rose as much as 0.25 percent to 11,474.05. The broader market index represented by the NSE Nifty 500 Index rose as much as 0.26 percent.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 884 shares advanced and 560 stocks declined on National Stock Exchange.

Eight out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Realty Index’s 0.9 percent gain. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Pharma Index was the top sectoral loser, down 0.14 percent.

The Indian rupee opened lower against the U.S. dollar. The home currency depreciated as much as 0.34 percent to 69.11 against the greenback.

F&O Cues

• Nifty March futures closed trading at 11458, premium of 13 points.
• Max OI for March series at 11,60 Call, OI at 35.6 lakh shares.
• Max OI for March series at 11,000 Put, OI at 28 lakh shares.

Stocks In F&O Ban

• In Ban: Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, IDBI, Jet Airways
• Out of Ban: Reliance Power

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.49 versus 1.64

BofAML on HCL Technologies

• Upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’, hiked price target to Rs 1,250 from Rs 1,060.
• Expect organic revenue growth rate to improve in 2019-20.
• Poised to gain from large deal intake, lower portfolio drag.
• See stable margin on accretion from software products in the next financial year.
• 2019-20 revenue guidance implies an uptick in organic growth rate.

BofAML on L&T Technologies

• Upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’, hiked price target to Rs 1,650 from 800.
• Large projects and leveraging of M&A lift growth visibility.
• Maturing sales construct to drive 15 percent revenue CAGR.
• Expect stable margins and better pricing power versus IT.

Citi on TCNS Clothing

• Downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’, lowered price target to Rs 847 from Rs 885
• Downgraded given the limited upside we see for the stock.
• TCNS remains ahead of its peers in execution and cash generation.
• Management focus is to boost margins and full price sell-through rates.

Deutsche Bank on IDFC First Bank

• Maintained ‘Sell’; raised price target to Rs 44 from Rs 35.
• Find the risk reward extremely unfavorable for the stock.
• Focus will be to build CASA - but this will be a long and costly journey.
• Very long gestation period to earn its cost of capital.
• See subdued RoEs and RoAs by around 8 percent and 0.7 percent respectively until 2022-23.

CLSA on Godrej Properties

• Maintained ‘Buy’, price target of Rs 1,024.
• Record new launches driving share gains for the company.
• Launch pace pick-up supported by project pipeline, faster churn.
• Strong response to Pune affordable launch indicates good end-user demand.

• Aarti Drugs ex-date for share buyback.
• CRISIL, Hindustan Aeronautics, BEML ex-date for interim dividend.
• IGSEC Heavy Engineering ex-date for stock split from Rs 10 to Rs 1 per share.

• JSW Energy promoters created pledge of 9.2 crore shares from March 25-26.
• Adani Transmission promoter group Gautam Adani created pledge of 2.8 crore shares on March 25.

• Tata Motors’ long term rating downgraded to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’ by S&P. The ratings remain on watch negative and the agency expects cash flow to remain negative at least for the next 12-18 months before the Chinese operations stabilize and cost cuts restore its financial health. (Bloomberg News)
• Mcleod Russel completed the sale of its Rwandan arm to Rwanda Tea Investment. The board has accepted the resignation of BM Khaitan as the chairman of the company on account of old age, but he will continue to be ‘Chairman Emeritus’. Existing Vice-Chairman of the Board Aditya Khaitan will be the next Chairman.
• NBCC received infrastructure orders worth Rs 1,003 crore for five development projects across the country.
• Strides Pharma Science board approved divestment of Australia Business.
• Indian court adjourned Vedanta Copper plant’s case to April 23. (Bloomberg News)
• Dabur said it will dissolve its step-down subsidiary ‘Dabur Tunisie’ by December 2019.
• Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services increased its stake from 88.75 percent to 98.43 percent in Mahindra Rural Housing Finance for Rs 286.78 crore.
• Tata Global Beverages board re-appointed Ajoy Kumar Misra as the Managing Director and CEO of the company for a period of one year till March 2020. Board permits his request to retire post the above period of appointment.
• Lumax Industries said it will commence in-house manufacturing of PCBs for lighting components with effect from April 1. The Board also approved the purchase of machines required for manufacturing of PCB’s from Lumax Auto Technologies for value not exceeding Rs 16 crore.
• Unichem Laboratories received final ANDA approval from the U.S. FDA for its Tadafil tablets which is used to treat impotency related issues.
• Corporation Bank said it will issue 340.6 crore preference shares at Rs 26.68 per share, aggregating to Rs 9,086 crore to the government of India.
• Sheela Foam OFS Update: Promoters said they will exercise the over-subscription offer to sell 9.75 lakh shares or 2 percent of the total equity capital. OFS was subscribed 2.78 times the demand for the non-retail investors with an indicative price of Rs 1,184.49 per share, as per the NSE.
• Som Distilleries & Breweries board approved share split of face value of Rs 10 per share into two shares with a face value of Rs 5 per share.
• Bharat Financial Inclusion completed ninth direct assignment of Rs 1,529 crore. With this assignment, the company has completed transactions worth Rs 8,195.1 crore in financial year 2019.
• Nelco board approved sale of company’s entire stake of 12.3 percent in Nelito Systems to Japan’s DTS Corporation for Rs 6.77 crores.
• Shree Renuka Sugars clarified that reports of lenders taking the company to the courts due to NPAs are false and misleading.

Offerings

• Indian Diagnostic Chain Metropolis Healthcare may announce shares price band for IPO.

• Brent crude fell 0.29 percent to $67.63 per barrel.
• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2 percent to $59.32 a barrel.
• Gold was steady at $1,309.13 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Aluminium ended higher for the second consecutive trading session, up 1.2 percent.
• Nickel ended 0.12 percent lower.
• Lead halted a four-day decline, ended 0.75 percent lower.
• Tin halted an two-day fall, ended 0.23 percent lower.
• Copper ended 0.1 percent higher.
• Zinc extended decline for the third consecutive trading session, ended 0.49 percent higher.

Good Morning!

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, traded a little changed at 11,440.50 as of 8:20 a.m.

Stocks slumped again in Asia as the precipitous decline in developed-market sovereign bond yields continued to unnerve investors about the economic outlook.

Japanese shares led declines in the region, sliding almost 2 percent. Korea’s benchmark also slumped, while China and Hong Kong saw more modest declines.

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