All You Need To Know Going Into Trade On March 8

Stocks in Asia tracked declines in the U.S. after a European Central Bank cut to economic forecasts reignited concern on global growth and sent bond yields lower.

Shares in Sydney and Tokyo retreated after the S&P 500 Index sank for a fourth day, with Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook the biggest drags. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, fell 0.5 percent to 11,034 as of 7:15 a.m.

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BQ Live

Here’s a quick look at all that could influence equities today.

U.S. Market Check

• A drop in tech shares helped send U.S. stocks to their longest losing streak this year as the ECB’s grim economic forecasts reinforced concerns that global growth is slowing.
• The yield on 10-year Treasuries held at 2.64 percent after Thursday five basis point slide.

Asian Cues

• Japan’s Topix index fell 1.2 percent.
• The Shanghai Composite slumped 2.2 percent.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3 percent.
• South Korea’s Kospi index lost 1 percent.
• The S&P 500 Futures dipped 0.2 percent.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures lost 0.3 percent.

Commodity Cues

• Brent crude traded 0.48 percent lower at $65.98 per barrel.
• West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.6 percent to $56.34 a barrel.
• Gold was steady at $1,286.62 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Nickel ended lower for the second day, down 2.6 percent.
• Aluminium ended lower for the fourth day down 0.1 percent.
• Lead halted a four-day decline, ended 0.29 percent higher.
• Tin ended 0.35 percent higher.
• Zinc halted a two-day rally, ended 1.9 percent lower.
• Copper ended lower for the second day, down 0.69 percent.

Key Events To Watch This Week

• The U.S. jobs report Friday may show hiring moderated in February. Nonfarm payrolls may have increased by 180,000 while the jobless rate fell to 3.9 percent, according to estimates.
• The House of Commons votes on U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s revised Brexit deal on Tuesday, 20 days before Britain is scheduled to leave the EU. A similar measure was resoundingly defeated in January.

Indian ADRs

Stocks To Watch

• Tata Motors: JLR’s February retail sales were down 4.1 percent over last year at 38,288 units. Jaguar sales were up 5.8 percent and Land Rover sales were down 8.1 percent. Retail sales were up 25.4 percent in North America, up 11.3 percent in the U.K. and 1.1 percent in Europe. China sales were down 47.6 percent.
• Wipro promoter said it will sell up to 2.67 crore shares in company via block deal. Azim Premji Trust will sell 0.29 percent stake in the company with option to sell up to 0.44 percent. The indicative price range is at Rs 255.40-260.78 per share, implying a discount of 3-5 percent to CMP. (Sources to BQ)
• Reliance Industries entered into an MoU with NMSEZ to sub lease 4,000 acres of land, and also made an initial payment of Rs 2,180 crore to the latter.
• Three additional Jet Airways aircraft were grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors.
• Infosys said it will deliver engineering and digital services to Rolls-Royce group.
• KNR Constructions: Receipt of order worth Rs 135 crore from Karnataka Road Development Corporation. They bagged a hybrid annuity project with bid project cost of Rs 920 crore.
• Lupin received the FDA approval for Atorvastatin calcium tablets. The product has annual sales of approximately $696 million in the U.S.
• Embassy of Vietnam signed up BLS International to accept visa applications in India.

New Listing

• Arvind Fashions.

Bulk Deals

• NIIT: Canara Robeco MF buys 12 lakh shares at Rs 92.80 apiece.
• Vijaya Bank: Morgan Stanley buys 81.3 lakh shares at Rs 45.97 apiece.

Money Market Update

The Indian rupee gained for the third straight session to close at its highest level in two months aided by strong foreign inflows.

The domestic currency appreciated 28 paise over its previous trade to close at 70.005 against the greenback. It had strengthened below the 70-a-dollar mark intra-day for the first time since Jan. 8, 2019. The rupee gained 91 paise in the past three trading sessions.

F&O Cues

• Nifty March futures closed trading at 11,098, premium of 40 points.
• Max open interest for March 28 series at 11,500 Call (open interest at 22.5 lakh shares)
• Max open interest for March 28 series at 11,000 Put, (open interest at 33.9 lakh shares)

Stocks In F&O Ban

• IDBI Bank
• Reliance Power
• Wockhardt

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.66 versus 1.8.
• Bank Nifty PCR at 1.05 versus 1.53.

Brokerage Radar

Macquarie on Gujarat Gas

• Initiated ‘Outperform’ with a price target of Rs 165.
• See highest structural volume growth potential versus IGL and MGL.
• Base case assumes volumes registering 13 percent CAGR over the next five years.
• Shift in sales and sourcing mix to lower volatility.

UBS on Mindtree

• Initiated ‘Neutral’ with a price target Rs 1,015.
• Strong digital growth balanced by client concentration.
• Healthy digital exposure and room for operating margin reversal are positives.
• Stake sale likely to be a big influence on valuations in 2019.

Nomura on Alkem Labs

• Maintained ‘Neutral’; cut price target to Rs 1,965 from Rs 2,116.
• Cut earnings to factor impact of competition in Mycophenolate Mofetil suspension.
• VistaPharm recently received approval and is likely to launch a product.
• Trading at 13.7 times FY21F EV/EBITDA, higher than trading multiple of most peers.

CLSA on Ambuja Cements

• Maintained ‘Outperform’ with a price target of Rs 250.
• Annual report shows balance sheet parameters worsened.
• Operating cashflow and FCF declined sharply in 2018.
• Market share losses continued but new capacity should help.

Goldman Sachs on HCL Tech

• Downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ cut price target to Rs 907 from Rs 958.
• Increasing risk from execution and industry shift to cloud.
• See risk of lower margins in near term and challenges with software products.

CLSA on Hindalco

• Maintained ‘Sell’, cut price target to Rs 180 from Rs 195.
• Easing aluminium cost support and slowing global autos pose headwinds.
• Concerned on the outlook for Novelis given slowing global auto demand.

Goldman Sachs on TCS

• Upgrade to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’, raised price target to Rs 2,359 from Rs 1,856.
• Raising dollar revenue growth forecast in FY18-21 to 10.3 percent versus 8.9 percent previously.
• Expect TCS to outperform Infosys in terms of EPS growth and ROE/ROIC.
• Domain expertise to help clients digitise.