Sensex Clocks Longest Winning Streak In Three Weeks

India’s Sensex rose for fourth day in a row and clocked its longest winning streak since Dec. 19 led by ITC, HDFC twins, Axis Bank and Infosys.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.64 percent or 232 points to 36,213 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 0.49 percent or 53 points to 10,855.

Thirteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE FMCG Index’s 1.11 percent gain. On the flipside, S&P BSE Oil & Gas Index was top loser, down 1.74 percent.

Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as the S&P BSE MidCap Index declined 0.04 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap Index slipped 0.2 percent.

• Praj Industries: Shares of the Pune-based construction company rose as much as 14 percent to Rs 146.70 on heavy volumes. Trading volume more than 6 times its 20-day average.
• Tera Software: The Hyderabad-based software services company was locked in a 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 52.50 after the company won an order worth Rs 325 crore from Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet.
• Kridhan Infra: The Mumbai-based steel products maker rose as much as 9.94 percent, the most in over a month, to Rs 49.75 after its Singapore arm won order worth Rs 168 crore.
• HT Media: The Delhi-based newspaper publisher was locked in 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 47.10 after the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) announced a hike of 25 percent over and above the existing rate structure for advertisements in print media.

Indian equity benchmarks rebounded after slipping in negative territory led by gains in HDFC, ITC, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.

The Sensex rose 0.46 percent or 165 points to 36,147 and the Nifty 50 Index climbed 0.31 percent or 34 points to 10,835.

Shares of the Mumbai-based private lender rose as much as 1.84 percent to Rs 1,606 after it met Bloomberg consensus estimates in December quarter.

Key earnings highlights:

• Net profit up 5.23 percent at Rs 985 crore versus estimate of Rs 810 crore
• Net interest income up 21 percent at Rs 2,288.1 crore versus Rs 1,895 crore (YoY)
• Gross non-performing assets at 1.13 percent versus 1.09 percent (QoQ)
• Net non-performing assets at 0.59 percent versus 0.48 percent (QoQ)

Indian equity benchmarks erased gains paced by losses in Yes Bank, GAIL India, HPCL and BPCL.

The Sensex fell 0.13 percent or 46 points to 35,935 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 0.37 percent or 40 points to 10,842.

The 30-share Sensex declined as much as 387 points from intraday high of 36,250.54 and 50-stock Nifty tested low of 10,749.40.

Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Metal Index's 1.8 percent fall. On the flipside, Nifty FMCG Index was top gainer, up 0.51 percent.

Shares of the Mumbai-based private sector lender extended decline and fell as much as 5.64 percent, the most in nearly a month, to Rs 181.50 after 25 lakh shares changed hands in two block deals.

The board of directors of Yes Bank is scheduled to meet today to select new managing director and CEO of the bank.

Buyers and sellers were not immediately known

Source: Bloomberg

• SKF India: The Mumbai-based ball and roll bearings maker rose as much as 0.63 percent to Rs 1,994. trading volume was 16 times its 20-day average.
• Gujarat Fluorochemicals: The Panchmahal-based chemical maker rose as much as 3 percent to Rs 975. Trading volume was more than 10 times its 20-day average.
• Sadbhav Engineering: The Ahmedabad-based construction company rose as much as 6.7 percent to Rs 240. Trading volume was more than six times its 20-day average.
• Sanofi India: The Mumbai-based drugmaker rose as much as 1.72 percent to Rs 6,298. Trading volume was seven times its 20-day average.

In a meeting with the central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das Wednesday, the non-bank financiers sought a reduction in minimum holding period on loan securitization, Raman Aggarwal, chairman of Finance Industry Development Council, says in a phone interview.

• The liquidity situation among non-banking finance companies is “negative” after IL&FS fallout, says Aggarwal, who heads the self-regulatory body of NBFCs
• Says requested RBI to allow small NBFCs to access Mudra refinance

• Budget session of Parliament will be from January 31 to February 13.

Source: Government official to Bloomberg

Shares of the Ahmedabad-based mortgage lender fell for second day in a row and declined as much as 23.5 percent in two sessions, its worst two-day decline since October 2008, to Rs 234.40.

The stock has been declining as Gruh Finance is set to merge with Bandhan Bank in a share-swap deal.

The boards of both lenders met separately on Monday where it approved the “merger co-operation agreement”, according to the housing finance company’s exchange filing. The effective date of the merger shall be Jan. 1, 2019, subject to regulatory approvals.

In intraday deals, the stock fell as much as 8.31 percent on heavy volumes. Trading volume was 13 times its 20-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

As many as 8.35 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE compared with an average of 1.83 lakh shares traded daily in the past two weeks, according to information on BSE’s website.

Shares of the Bengaluru-based industrial turbines maker rose as much as 3.96 percent to Rs 113 after its board approved shares buyback proposal.

The company will buyback 66,66,666 or 2.02 percent of total paid up equity shares at Rs 150 per share for a total consideration of Rs 100 crore, Triveni Turbine said in an exchange filing.

Indian equity benchmarks came off intraday high levels as metal and oil & gas shares came under selling pressure.

The Sensex rose 0.48 percent or 173 points to 36,154 and Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.35 percent or 38 points to 10,840.

Eleven of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the S&P BSE Information Technology Index's 0.95 percent gain. On the other hand, S&P BSE Metal Index was top loser, down 1.38 percent.

Nifty 50 Top Gainers

• Axis Bank up 2.01 percent
• Wipro up 1.46 percent
• Infosys up 1.44 percent
• Eicher Motors up 1.33 percent
• Tech Mahindra up 1.25 percent

Nifty 50 Top Losers

• GAIL India down 3.44 percent
• HPCL down 2.74 percent
• Tata Steel down 2.55 percent
• BPCL down 2.33 percent
• Bharti Infratel down 2.22 percent

Shares of the Bhopal-based road developer fell as much as 5.35 percent, the most in nearly a month, to Rs 389.05 after CRISIL cut its ratings on company's long-term facilities.

CRISIL has downgraded its rating on the long-term bank facilities and NCD of Dilip Buildcon Limited (DBL) to 'CRISIL A/Stable' from 'CRISIL A+/Stable' while short term rating and commercial paper reaffirmed at 'CRISIL A1', CRISIL said in note published yesterday.

• South Indian Bank has 1.31 crore shares change hands in two blocks. Stock up 0.33 percent at Rs 15.30.
• Edelweiss Financial Services has 85 lakh shares change hands in three block deals. Stock down 1.19 percent at Rs 178.90.
• Grasim Industries has 13.2 lakh shares change hands in a block. Stock unchanged at Rs 837.

Buyers and sellers were not immediately known

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of the Mumbai-based private sector lender fell as much as 0.8 percent to Rs 1,565.30 ahead of its third quarter earnings.

Here's what to expect from IndusInd Bank in Q3:

• Net profit seen at Rs 810 crore versus Rs 936 crore, down 13 percent.
• Net interest income seen at Rs 2,360 crore versus Rs 1,895 crore, up 25 percent
• Provisions in Q3 will lead to pressure on profitability
• NIMs are expected to stay flat over last quarter
• Non-interest income to grow aided by healthy fee income growth
• Non-interest income also to benefit from third-party distribution fees, treasury gains
• Details on merger of Bharat Financials will be watched

Nifty's 11,000 call option contract was among the most active option contracts on the National Stock Exchange.

Premium on the contract surged 10 percent to Rs 90.90. Over 79,800 shares were added to the open interest which stood at over 39.40 lakh shares.

Click here to see the complete options chain

Shares of the Mumbai-based steelmaker declined nearly 2 percent to Rs 486.85 per share.

Tata Steel said it is in talks to sell south-east Asian assets under NatSteel to China’s HeSteel, according to Bloomberg News. The report cited a S&P Global Platts newsletter which stated the Tata-group company may also sell its Thailand Operations.

In another development, the company said its standalone sales for the December quarter stood at 2.97 million tonnes, declining 9 percent on a yearly basis.

Shares of the Mumbai-based steel products maker rose as much as 9.94 percent, the most in over a month, to Rs 49.75 after its Singapore arm won order worth Rs 168 crore.

The order is for construction for link sewers for the DTSS Phase 2 Project at Old Choa Chu Kang Road/ Jalan Bahar, in Singapore, Kridhan Infra said in an exchange filing.

Shares of the Mumbai-based private sector lender fell as much as 1.22 percent to Rs 190 as its board meets today to select new managing director and CEO.

The Reserve Bank of India denied another term to Co-Founder and CEO Rana Kapoor.

Kapoor’s leadership came into question after the regulator pointed out discrepancies in the way the bank reported its bad loan numbers. This led to two consecutive years of higher bad loan ratios reported because of the RBI’s intervention.

Shares of the Mumbai-based chemical maker fell as much as 1.81 percent to Rs 1,467 after its promoter sold Chandrakant Gogri sold 20,000 shares on Jan.4.

Shares of newspaper publishers surged after the government announced 25 percent hike in the rates it pays to print media outlets for carrying its advertisements ahead of a crucial general assembly elections this year.

“The decision will be of great benefit especially to the medium and small newspapers, including a large number of such papers in regional and vernacular languages,” the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said in a media statement. “The decision takes place with effect from today and will be valid for a period of three years.”

• HT Media rose as much as 17.65 percent to Rs 46
• DB Corp climbed 8 percent to Rs 183
• Jagran Prakashsan rose 9.67 percent to Rs 125.30

Shares of the country's second largest information technology company rose as much 2.81 percent to Rs 688.70 as its board will discuss second share buyback and a special dividend second time in two years to reward shareholders.

The board will consider the proposal along with its third-quarter results, Infosys said in an exchange filing.

The software exporter is expected to announce a Rs 11,200 crore buyback in line with its capital allocation policy. The buyback is likely to be for 16.8 crore shares at the last 30-day average price of Rs 667.4 apiece.

Indian equity benchmarks advanced mirroring gains in other Asian markets amid optimism on the potential for progress in trade talks between Washington and Beijing.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.56 percent or 200 points to 36,182 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 0.52 percent or 56 points to 10,858.

Infosys, HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank were leading rally in the benchmarks.

All sector gauges barring the S&P BSE Telecom Index compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the S&P BSE Information Technology Index's 0.8 percent gain.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as the S&P BSE MidCap Index rose 0.5 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap Index advanced 0.4 percent.

Rupee opened higher at 70.06 per dollar against yesterday's close of 70.20.

The local unit rose as much as 0.22 percent or 15 paise to 70.05 against the greenback.

Indian government bonds may be under pressure as WTI crude rose back above $50 a barrel for the first time in three weeks, raising inflationary concerns for the oil importer.

Bond prices though could draw some support after the RBI said it will purchase Rs 10,000 crore of bonds as part of its open market operations to inject liquidity. The yield on the 10-year benchmark bond fell 5 basis points on Tuesday to end at 7.45 percent. Nevertheless, caution in creeping in at the longer end of the curve as focus remains on the fiscal outlook, DBS said in a note.

Meanwhile, the rupee is likely to gain in line with other Asian currencies. Stocks rallied amid optimism on the potential of trade talks between Washington and Beijing and better risk sentiment is expected to help the rupee, traders said. Implied forwards suggest that spot will start trading around 70.10, up from 70.2025 on Tuesday when it fell 0.7 percent.

Source: Bloomberg

CLSA on Bharti Airtel

• Maintained Buy; hiked target price to Rs 425 from Rs 415.
• Recommended buy on back of sector consolidation, turn in ARPU, deleveraging and valuations.
• Airtel’s market-share defence was commendable.
• Expect Airtel to retain its market share led by a 23 percent growth in data subscribers.

Macquarie on Jagran Prakashan

• Maintained outperform with target price of Rs 157.
• Government rate hike to provide much-needed fillip.
• Positive impact of 10-12 percent on FY20/21 EPS estimates.
• Advertisement growth to pick up in second half; stock trading at attractive valuations.

Morgan Stanley on ICICI Bank

• Maintained ‘Overweight’; hiked target price to Rs 510 from Rs 460.
• Asset quality continues to improve, and underlying earnings are accelerating.
• Core earnings CAGR likely to top 20 percent over FY19-21 on stronger asset growth and net interest margin.
• Valuation is attractive; foreign ownership remains at 15-year low.

Kotak Securities on Ashok Leyland

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut target price to Rs 150 from Rs 170.
• Commercial vehicle cycle downturn is transient in nature and growth to come back in FY20.
• Cut volume/earnings assumptions by 11-17 percent/13-17 percent over FY19-21 to factor in weakness in demand.
• Truck volumes to grow in second half of FY20 due to pre-buying ahead of change in emission norms in April 2020.

Motilal Oswal on Tata Elxsi

• Kept earlier ‘Buy’ rating under review.
• Deceleration of dollar revenue growth disconcerting.
• Recent trend in growth raises concerns about sustainability of valuation multiples.
• Seek more clarity on business outlook, segmental traction and causes for recent slowdown.

Motilal Oswal on Coal India

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut target price to Rs 338 from Rs 354.
• Lowering volume growth expectation as production sputters.
• Power plants restocking demand squeezing high margin e-auction volumes.
• Cut earnings estimate by 5-7 percent for FY19-20; valuations still attractive.

• Nifty January futures closed trading at 10,845, with a premium of 42 points.
• Maximum open interest for January series call at 11,000 strike price call (open interest at 38.6 lakh shares)
• Maximum open interest for January series put at 10,500 strike price (open interest at 39.5 lakh shares)

Insider Trades

• Aarti Industries promoter Chandrakant Gogri sold 20,000 shares on Jan.4.
• Vaibhav Global promoter group Brett Plastics acquired 50,000 shares on Jan. 4.
• Aster DM Healthcare promoter Dr. Azad Moopen acquired 19,000 shares on Jan. 7.

Trading Tweaks

• AGC Networks, Raj Television Network, Mishtann Foods to moved into ASM framework.

Bulk Deals

CL Educate

• ICICI Lombard General Insurance sold 76,600 shares (0.54 percent) at Rs 115 per share.

Who’s Meeting Whom

• Inox Leisure to meet Investec on Jan.10 .

• IndusInd Bank
• Delta Corp
• Bajaj Corp

• Yes Bank to hold board meet today to appoint new MD and CEO.
• Tata Steel said it is in talks to sell south-east Asian assets under NatSteel to China’s HeSteel. The report sourced from S&P Global Platts newsletter also stated that the company may also sell its Thailand Operations. (Bloomberg News)
• Tata Steel’s standalone sales for third quarter, on a yearly basis, stood at 2.97 million tonnes versus 3.3 million tonnes. Tata Steel Europe Sales at 2.3 million tonnes versus 2.44 million tonnes. Company said that standalone production was marginally up at 3.33 million tonnes versus 3.27 million tonnes due to plant utilization, but sales volume was lower due to seasonal headwinds caused by softer automotive demand and inventory replenishment.
• NMDC board approved share-buyback of 10.2 crore shares (3.23 percent of total equity shares) at Rs 98 per share aggregating to Rs 1,000 crore. Record date for buyback set on Jan. 18.
• Infosys said it was considering share buy-back and special dividend on Jan. 11.
• DB Corp, Jagran Prakashan, HT Media: The Information & Broadcasting Ministry hiked the advertisement rates for print media by 25 percent for a period of three years. The ministry stated that this decision will be of immense benefit to small and medium newspapers.
• Kridhan Infra’s Singapore arm won sewer construction order worth Rs 168 crore from the Public Utilities Board of Singapore.
• Oriental Bank of Commerce board approved raising Rs 5,500 crore through issuance of equity shares via preferential allotment to the Government of India.
• Indian Bank board approved issuing equity shares worth Rs 800 crore under ESOP scheme and said it will raise Rs 3,300 crore via bonds in financial year 2019-20.
• Eros International Media’s south Asian OTT platform ‘Eros Now’ entered into a platform and content association agreement with BSNL.
• EID Parry December Sugar Operations Update: Domestic sugar sales at 0.28 LMT, domestic sugar exports at 0.14 LMT. Alcohol sold at 97 LL. During the month 7.17 MT of cane was crushed and recovery stood at 10.38 percent.
• Kiri Industries: Singapore Commercial Court directs all parties to assess value of Kiri’s shares, where the minority discount should not be factored in the calculation. Regarding the issue of costs, Kiri is entitled to full costs on its claim.

• Lok Sabha passes quota bill in an almost unanimous vote
• Oil climbs to 3-week high as trade talks fuel demand optimism
• Here’s what political leaders think of the new quota bill
• Indian economy may overtake U.S. by 2030
• Money market schemes drive outflows from mutual funds
• RBI sets up panel under Nandan Nilekani to boost digital payments
• Five fiscal messes India can’t blame on the RBI
• Mumbai records back-to-back home price declines in 2018
• RBI rejects request for special classification of IL&FS loans
• World Bank cuts global growth outlook as trade expansion falters
• Samsung phone users perturbed to find they can’t delete Facebook

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India rose 0.66 percent or 71 points to 10,909 as of 7:20 a.m.

Asian stocks rallied Wednesday following gains in the U.S. amid optimism on the potential for progress in trade talks between Washington and Beijing. Treasuries steadied after their recent slide and the dollar dipped.

Equities in Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan led gains after all major U.S. indexes climbed. U.S. President Donald Trump is eager to strike a deal to boost financial markets that have been roiled by the trade war, according to people familiar.

Stocks

• Japan’s Topix index climbed 1.1 percent as of 10:30 a.m. in Tokyo.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.8 percent.
• South Korea’s Kospi index added 1.2 percent.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.4 percent.
• The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 percent.
• S&P 500 futures ticked 0.3 percent higher. The S&P 500 Index rose 1 percent.

Currencies

• The yen was steady at 108.73 per dollar.
• The offshore yuan traded at 6.8509 per dollar.
• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1 percent.
• The euro was at $1.1456, up 0.1 percent.
• The pound added 0.2 percent to $1.2741.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.1 percent to $50.32 a barrel.
• Gold was stable at $1,285.98 an ounce.

Short on time? well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of the article!