Sensex, Nifty End Rangebound Session With Losses

• Benchmark indices end rangebound session with losses
• Nifty ends 0.33% lower at 9,881
• Sensex ends 0.3% lower at 33,507
• Nifty Bank ends 0.5% lower at 20,201
• Nifty Midcap Index ends 0.1% higher
• Nifty Smallcap Index ends 0.5% higher
• India Volatility Index ends 0.5% higher at 33.47
• Nifty Media (up 1.7%) and Nifty Auto (up 0.8%) among top sectoral gainers
• Nifty Metal (down 0.8%) and Nifty FMCG (down 0.5%) among sectoral laggards
• Maruti Suzuki ends as the top Nifty gainer; up 4%
• Bharti Infratel ends as the top Nifty laggard; down 4.5%
• 988 stocks on the NSE end with gains while 819 end with losses

Indian equity markets ended a largely rangebound session with a negative bias, owing to mixed cues from the rest of the global equities.

The S&P BSE Sensex traded in a 600 point range through the session and ended 0.3% lower at 33,507.

The NSE Nifty 50 traded in a 170 point range during the session, ending below the 9,900 mark at 9,881, down 0.33%.

Both Sensex and Nifty have alternated between gains and losses in the last 10 trading sessions.

Most sectoral indices remained flat throughout the session. The Nifty Media Index (up 1.73%) and the Nifty Realty Index (up 1.3%) were the top gainers while Nifty Metal (down 0.8%), Nifty PSU Bank (down 0.4%) along with Nifty Bank and Nifty FMCG (down 0.5% each) were the laggards.

Market breadth remained in favour of the advances. 988 stocks on the NSE traded with gains while 819 traded with losses.

The telecom operator has acquired a strategic stake in an Edtech startup Lattu Media, as part of the Airtel Startup Accelerator program, the company said in an exchange filing.

The investment will enable the company to add Edtech to its premium digital content portfolio and give distribution scale to learning material from Lattu Kids.

Shares are trading near the highest point of the day, up 3.65% at Rs 564.85.

• Trades at the highest level since March 2019
• Gains as much as 18.4% to Rs 40.8
• Biggest single-day gain since August 2019
• Snaps two-day losing streak
• Has gained 54% in the last 13 trading sessions
• Today's volumes are 3.9 times higher than its 30-day average
• Stock in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 77
• Has tripled from its 52-week low of Rs 13 on March 13, 2020
• All three analysts tracking the stock have a buy recommendation

India's antitrust watchdog is reviewing Facebook's purchase of a 10% stake in Reliance Industries' digital assets.

The Competition Commission of India looks to prevent the misuse of data in all the deals it assesses, Chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta told Bloomberg News in an email interview.

Peculiarities such as 'strong network effects, high return to scale and access to huge amount of data' may incentivise digital firms to engage in anti-competitive conduct, Gupta said, without referring to any particular case.

Facebook in an application to the CCI has argued that the deal does not alter the competitive landscape in any relevant market.

Regulatory filings show Facebook and WhatsApp have proposed to set up a digital marketplace as part of the investment in Jio.

Shares of Reliance Industries trade little changed at Rs 1,614.

• Top gainer on the Nifty Midcap Index
• Gains as much as 9.3% to Rs 170
• Trades at the highest level in two months
• Up for the second straight day
• Has gained in Nine out of the last 13 sessions
• Gains of 18.4% in the last 13 trading sessions
• Today's volumes are 2.3 times higher than its 30-day average
• Continues to trade above its 50-Day Moving Average of 146
• Has recovered 27.4% from its 52-week low of Rs 117 on April 7, 2020
• 27 out of the 30 analysts tracking the stock have a buy recommendation; 1 sell call
• Return potential of the stock as per Bloomberg data is 15.5%

• OFS to Non-retail investors fully subscribed at 1:55 p.m., according to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
• OFS gets 111% demand from non-retail investors
• OFS for retail investors to open tomorrow
• Standard Life plans to sell 60 lakh shares or 2.82% stake through this OFS.

Shares are now trading 4.2% lower at Rs 2,433, down for the third straight day.

1.76 crore shares of the Healthcare services company exchanged hands in three large trades on the National Stock Exchange, as per Bloomberg data.

The first two trades saw 60.96 lakh shares exchange hands while the third trade saw 53.97 lakh shares that exchanged hands.

The total number of shares exchanged amount to 11.9% of the company's total equity.

Buyers and sellers in all the three trades were not immediately known.

Shares are locked in an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 56.80, snapping a three-day losing streak.

The drugmaker reported a 22.1% decline in its net profit to Rs 94.1 crore, while revenue remained flat compared to the previous year at Rs 454.8 crore.

Ebitda fell 13.4% while higher raw material costs led to Ebitda margin narrowing to 28.2% from 32.5% during the same period last year.

The company will also be acquiring an 18.25% stake in U.S.-based AACT Inc., to support R&D and development of oncological products.

The acquisition will be done for a cash consideration of $7,50,000. This is subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

Shares fell as much as 3.5% to Rs 617.6, post the announcement. The stock has snapped a two-day losing streak.

• Benchmark indices continue to remain rangebound
• Nifty up 0.5% at 9,964
• Sensex up 0.6% at 33,803
• Nifty Bank up 0.9% at 20,481
• Nifty Midcap Index up 0.6%
• Nifty Smallcap Index up 0.8%
• India Volatility Index up 0.8% to 33.23
• Nifty Media Index remains the top sectoral gainer; up 2%
• Nifty Auto Index is the other sectoral gainer; up 1.4%
• Maruti Suzuki remains the top Nifty gainer; up 5.6%
• Bharti Infratel remains the top Nifty laggard; down 2.8%
• 1,118 stocks on the NSE trade with gains while 664 trade with losses

The rupee ended little changed in today's trading session, not before snapping a four-day losing streak.

The currency ended at 76.16 against the U.S. Dollar as compared to Tuesday's close of 76.21.

With today's gains, the rupee ended as the third best performing Asian currency, behind the Singapore Dollar and the Taiwanese Dollar.

Rupee might test its record low level of 76.9, if tensions between India and China continue to escalate, coupled with a surge in Covid-19 infections, DBS analyst Radhika Rao wrote in a note.

Yield on the 10-year government bond ended at 5.836% as compared to the opening level of 5.837%.

• Trades at the highest level since May 2019
• Gains as much as 1.2% to Rs 207.3
• Rises for the 21st straight day
• Longest winning streak on record
• Has gained 24% in the last 21 trading sessions
• Today's volumes are 2.5 times higher than its 30-day average
• Stock trades in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 96

• Axis Bank's 400 Call: Premium up 28.7% to Rs 18.4. The contract has shed 2.95 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• State Bank of India's 180 Call: Premium up 14.75% to Rs 5.45. The contract has added 6.6 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Maruti Suzuki's 5,700 Call: Premium up 136.1% to Rs 226. The contract has added 68,600 shares in Open Interest.

The Indian government is against a petition to waive interest payments on loans during the Covid-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reports citing people with knowledge of the court proceedings.

Regulators have allowed a six-month freeze on principal repayments, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court that waiving interest will destabilise banks.

A lawyer for an Association of Banks also opposed the waiver of interest, citing the need to keep paying depositors despite the moratorium period.

The three-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan has adjourned the hearing to early August.

Banking stocks have recovered from the lowest point of the day with the Nifty Bank now trading higher by 250 points.

Markets across Europe have opened with a positive bias, following up to the near 3% surge on Tuesday.

The Stoxx 600 index has opened 0.3% higher with Auto stocks leading owing to better European car sales. Miners and household goods are the top laggards.

Asian markets have ended mixed while futures on the Dow Jones reversed losses to trade higher by 30 points.

Brent crude for the August contract trades 0.7% lower at $40.67 per barrel while Gold is little changed at $1,728/Oz.

Let's Take a look at how benchmark indices across Europe have opened:

• Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.3% at 3,252
• DAX up 0.3% at 12,349
• CAC up 0.3% at 4,968
• FTSE 100 up 0.44% at 6,269
• IBEX 35 little changed at 7,501

The company has informed the exchanges that it has launched 'Wonder Kitchen' - a foray into food takeaway and home delivery business as part of its business expansion plan.

Wonder Kitchen will be a multi-cusine outlet serving both vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisines. It has also associated with delivery partners Swiggy and Zomato for online orders and home delivery.

The first outlet has been set up at Kengeri, near to satelite town, Bengaluru.

Shares surged to the day's high, gaining as much as 4.4% to Rs 135.85.

The manufacturers of railway rolling stock has entered into an exclusive cooperation agreement with ABB to address the propulsion equipment business for the Indian Railways.

Both companies will work together to design, develop and manufacture state-of-the-art propulsion systems.

The units will be manufactured at TItagarh's Uttarpara plant in Kolkata with certain components to be supplied by ABB, according to the press release.

Shares of Titagarh Wagons surged to be locked in an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 32.75 per share while those of ABB too recovered from the day's low and now trade little changed at Rs 793.9.

The mining company reported a 76% decline in its net profit for the March quarter due higher taxes and an exceptional expense of Rs 96.4 crore.

Revenue for the Iron Ore segment fell 12% while that for its Pellet segment fell 65% compared to the same period last year.

The company also stated that its revenue loss due to the Covid-19 pandemic stood at Rs 220 crore.

In its Covid-19 update, it mentioned the loss of 10 lakh tonnes of production and 5.5 lakh tonnes of sales in the month of March.

Production of Iron Ore during the quarter fell 11% year-on-year while sales declined 15%.

Shares recovered from the day's low to gain as much as 2.7% to Rs 87.15.

• Trades at the highest level since January 2018
• Gains as much as 7.1% to Rs 792
• Biggest single-day gain in a month
• Up for the seventh straight day
• Longest winning streak in two months
• Has gained 37% in the last seven trading sessions
• Today's volumes are 4.5 times higher than its 30-day average
• Stock trades in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 91
• Has tripled from its 52-week low of Rs 261 on March 23, 2020
• 13 out of the 16 analysts tracking the stock have a buy recommendation; 1 sell call
• The stock now trades 8.7% higher than its 12-month consensus price target of Rs 715.07, implying a negative return potential

BNP Paribas Wealth Management will exit its onshore wealth management business in India to focus on more value-added services, Bloomberg News reports.

Wealth management clients will be referred to its unit, Sharekhan, an emailed statement from the company representative said.

We can confirm that a number of roles will be affected. As we are currently looking for redeployment opportunities within the group, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

BNP Paribas is setting up an asset management JV with Bank of Baroda while Sharekhan is also foraying into discount brokering through a new subsidiary company, according to the statement.

• Benchmark indices continue to fluctuate in a narrow range
• Nifty up 0.1% at 9,923
• Sensex up 0.1% at 33,641
• Nifty Bank up 0.3% at 20,351
• Nifty Midcap Index up 0.1%
• Nifty Smallcap Index up 0.6%
• India Volatility Index up 2% to 33.61
• Nifty Media Index remains the top sectoral gainer; up 1.6%
• Other sectoral indices trade flat with both positive and negative bias
• Maruti Suzuki remains the top Nifty gainer; up 3.3%
• Bharti Infratel is the top Nifty laggard; down 2.4%
• 990 stocks on the NSE trade with gains while 740 decline

The engineering solutions provider for distilleries and breweries has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lygos Inc. to develop Lygos' proprietary yeast for production of Lactic Acid.

As part of the MoU, Lygos will provide its proprietary yeast platform to Praj Industries for jointly developing into various solutions for commercial applications, according to the exchange filing.

The global Lactic Acid market is estimated to be around $1 billion as of 2019.

Shares gained as much as 4.4% to Rs 65.5, snapping a three-day losing streak.

Yes Bank is planning to raise at lease Rs 8,000 crore through a public offering of shares, Bloomberg News reports citing people familiar with the matter.

The fund raising process is likely to begin soon and could help the bank raise its Tier-1 core capital ratio to around 10% from 6.3% at the end of March.

Deliberations are ongoing and details of the fund raising may change, according to the sources.

A Yes Bank representative did not immediately respond to a request for a comment from Bloomberg News.

Shares are off the day's low after falling as much as 4.7%. The stock trades lower for the fifth straight day.

• Net Interest Income flat at Rs 1,022.5 crore
• Net profit down to Rs 57.5 crore from Rs 72.3 crore
• Gross NPA at 12.81% from 16.4% in the previous quarter
• Net NPA at 4.77% from 5.52% in the previous quarter
• Net Interest Margin at 2.41% from 2.64% year-on-year
• Provisions at Rs 717.42 crore from Rs 794.6 crore

Shares fell as much as 11.9% to Rs 10, snapping a three-day losing streak.

• Locked in an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 70.60
• Gains for the third straight day
• Trades at the highest level in three months
• Has declined only thrice in the last 21 trading sessions
• Up 80% in the last 21 trading sessions
• Today's volumes are 1.5 times higher than its 30-day average
• Stock trades in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 78
• Has more than doubled from its 52-week low of Rs 30 on March 25, 2020
• Fidelity Funds sold 1.3% stake in the company whereas Param Capital acquired 0.93% stake.

The company's promoter Standard Life plans to sell 60 lakh shares of the company, amounting to 2.82% stake through an Offer for Sale.

The OFS issue for non-retail investors opens on June 17 and for retail investors opens on June 18.

Floor price for the OFS is set at Rs 2,362 per share, which is a 7% discount to Tuesday's closing price.

There is also an oversubscription option of 60 lakh shares for the issue.

Shares fell as much as 3.54% to Rs 2,450 and are down for the third straight day.

The company has informed the exchanged of winning a fresh export order from the U.S.

The order is for 10,000 truck steel wheels for the truck and trailer market in the country.

The company expects a total revenue of $4,00,000 from this order, which will be executed from the company's Chennai plant from June to September.

With this order, the company will also ramp up production at its Chennai Truck Wheels plant.

Shares surged to the day's high, gaining as much as 4.4% to Rs 384. The stock is now up for the third straight day.

• Nifty June futures add 8% and 7.63 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty Bank June futures add 18.8% and 3.1 lakh shares in Open Interest.

Nifty: June 18 Expiry

• 10,000 Call: Premium falls 18.4% to Rs 52.25. The contract has shed 18,225 shares in Open Interest.
• 9,900 Call: Premium falls 20% to Rs 86. The contract has added 6.34 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• 9,800 Put: Premium falls 5.5% to Rs 61.9. The contract has added 6.2 lakh shares in Open Interest.

Nifty Bank: June 18 Expiry

• 21,000 Call: Premium down 7.6% to Rs 110. The contract has added 2.1 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• 20,500 Call: Premium down 1.4% to Rs 268. The contract has added 1.94 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• 19,000 Put: Premium up 9.2% to Rs 75.8. The contract has added 2.4 lakh shares in Open Interest.

The oil refiner reported a 96.4% drop in its net profit for the March quarter, marred by various one-time losses.

The company reported an exceptional loss of Rs 1,002.9 crore due to write-down of inventories and also had tax reversal of current taxes at Rs 1,030.3 crore.

Gross Refining Margin (GRM) for the financial year stood at $1.02 per barrel from $5.09 per barrel, while that for the quarter was a negative $1.23 per barrel.

The company also reported a forex loss of Rs 624.4 crore in the quarter.

Chairman and MD MK Surana says that the company may report an inventory gain in the first quarter of FY21.

Prices of petrol and diesel have been raised for the 11th straight day today.

Shares recovered from the day's low to gain as much as 4% to Rs 218.25.

• Benchmark indices trade flat
• Nifty up 0.2% at 9,934
• Sensex up 0.2% at 33,681
• Nifty Bank down 0.5% at 20,391
• Nifty Midcap Index up 0.3%
• Nifty Smallcap Index up 0.7%
• India Volatility Index up 2.5% to 33.78
• Nifty Media Index is the top sectoral gainer; up 2.1%
• Nifty PSU Bank Index is the top sectoral laggard; down 1%
• Nifty Realty is the other sectoral gainer; up 1.3%
• Maruti Suzuki is the top Nifty gainer; up 2.8%
• Bharti Infratel is the top Nifty laggard; down 2.3%
• 1,007 stocks on the NSE trade with gains while 626 decline

The rupee has opened flat in today’s trade - after turning negative late on Tuesday owing to escalation of the military standoff between India and China.

The currency opened at 76.22 against the U.S. Dollar as compared to Tuesday's close of 76.21. It was the worst performing currency in Asia on Tuesday. The five-day losing streak for the rupee is the longest since December 2019.

Within the bond markets, traders will eye the treasury bill auction worth Rs 45,000 crore today.

• Trades at the highest level since August 2018
• Gains as much as 16.5% to Rs 31
• Up for the fourth straight day
• Has declined only twice in the last 14 trading sessions
• Has nearly doubled in the last 14 trading sessions (up 94%)
• Today's volumes as 26.6 times higher than its 30-day average
• Stock trades in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 85
• Has more than quadrupled from its 52-week low of Rs 7.2 on March 20, 2020

14.2 lakh shares of the industrial and engineering products manufacturer exchanged hands in a single large trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange, according to Bloomberg data.

14.2 lakh shares amount to 1.1% of the company's total equity.

Buyers and sellers in the trade remain unknown as of now.

Shares gained as much as 5% post the trade to Rs 1,144 and are up for the second straight day.

The company reported a 7.7 times jump in its net profit for the March quarter, also aided by a MAT credit reversal of Rs 88.2 crore.

Revenue saw a growth of 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year while Ebitda margins expanded to 24.9% from 20.4%, aided by lower raw material costs.

In its Covid-19 update, the company said that plants manufacturing products for life sciences and crop sciences are running at optimum capacity while those for industrials are running at sub-optimum levels.

The press statement also said that the company is working to develop domestic vendors for some critical raw material which is currently imported.

Shares gained as much as 6% to an all-time high of Rs 1,655.

Billionaire investor Radhakishan Damani is exploring to acquire a controlling stake in the south-based cement company, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News.

According to sources, Damani has informally reached out to N Srinivasan to explore a takeover. Damani has promised a friendly change in management and is not seeking a hostile takeover.

As of March 31, 2020, N Srinivasan held 29% stake in the company while the Damani family had raised its stake to 20%, according to exchange filing.

A representative for Avenue Supermarts declined to comment, while a spokesperson for India Cements said the information isn’t correct, without elaborating.

Shares gained as much as 10.7% to Rs 139.55 - the highest level in over a month.

Indian equity markets opened with a negative bias, tracking mixed cues from Asia and persistent geopolitical tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The S&P BSE Sensex opened 0.5% lower at 33,438 while the NSE Nifty 50 index opened 0.4% lower at 9,876.

Both benchmark indices ended with gains of 1% in a volatile trading session on Tuesday.

Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty Media (up 0.7%) and Nifty Pharma (up 0.3%) have opened with gains, while the rest have opened with declines between 0.5-0.7%.

Market breadth was mostly equal at the start of trade. 715 stocks on the NSE opened with losses while 650 gained.

• Global cases reach the 8.15 million mark
• Death toll rise to 4.41 lakh
• South Korea reports 43 new cases in the last 24 hours.
• Brazil reported 34,918 new infections - a record in 24 hours.
• Mexico reports 4,599 new cases.
• Florida's infections reached a new high while Texas saw a surge in hospitalisations.
• Beijing reported 31 new cases on Tuesday. The administration has ordered all schools to close and impose restrictions on visits to all residential compounds.
• U.S. FDA says no current evidence that Covid-19 is transmitted through food.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a loan of $750 milion to India to assist the government in strengthening its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, an official statement said.

The current loan will be the second for India within the AIIB's Covid-19 Crisis Recovery Facility. It had earlier extended a loan of $500 million as an emergency response.

With this, the total sovereign loans to India approved by the AIIB, amount to $3.06 billion.

• HDFC AMC: Promoter Standard Life to sell 60 lakh shares or 2.82% stake via Offer for Sale (OFS). Offer opens for non-retail investors on June 17 and for retail investors on June 18. Floor price for the same is set at Rs 2,362 per share, a 7% discount to Tuesday's closing price. Oversubscription option present for another 60 lakh shares.
• HPCL: Net profit declines 96.4% to Rs 26.8 crore in the March quarter. Reports ebitda loss of Rs 706.7 crore. Gross Refining Margin for the quarter at negative $1.02 per barrel from $5.09 per barrel. Forex loss of Rs 624.4 crore.
• NMDC: Net profit falls 75.8% owing to tax worth Rs 771.3 crore paid for earlier years. Exceptional expense of Rs 96.4 crore. Ebitda margin narrows to 46.8% fro 57.4%. Iron Ore Segment revenue down 12% while pellet segment revenue down 65%.
• Navin Fluorine: Net profit rises 7.7 times while Ebitda margin widens to 24.9% from 20.4%.
• SpiceJet: Flying 25% of the flights with 60-70% load factor. Chairman Ajay Singh is hopeful of flying 40% of capacity by July.
• HDFC: To seek shareholders nod for raising funds through issue of equity shares on June 19.
• Banking Stocks: Supreme Court hearing on loan moratorium interest waiver on June 17.
• Aarti Drugs: PTI reports that India may impose anti-dumping duty on Chinese anti-bacterial drug Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride with a view to guard domestic industry from cheap imports. The company had filed an application to impose duty on import of medicines from China. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies in its preliminary findings has recommended the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty in the range of $0.94-$3.29 per kg.
• IRB Infra: Board approved raising Rs 750 crore via NCDs on a private placement basis to Anahera Investment.
• Ashok Leyland: To consider raising Rs 200 crore via NCDs on June 19.
• Prestige Estates Projects: To consider raising capital via NCDs on June 24.
• Non-Nifty Earnings Today: Pidilite, Gulf Oil, Cummins India, Indraprastha Gas, Natco Pharma, JK Cement, Muthoot Finance, RBL Bank, REC, HEG, Welspun Corp.

To know more about the earnings reported after market hours on Tuesday, companies sharing Covid-19 updates along with F&O cues, click here.

• Benchmark indices gain for the third straight day
• S&P 500 ends 1.9% higher led by energy, healthcare and material shares.
• U.S. retail sales jumped by the most on record
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy may be bottoming out but it still has a long way to go to reverse the damage caused due to Covid-19.
• Trump administration preparing $1 trillion infrastructure proposal to revive the economy.
• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.2%
• Yield on the 10-year treasury rose to 0.75% - the highest in a week.
• West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 2.7% to $38.13 per barrel. The commodity trades 2% lower today.

Catch all the live action in the global equity markets here.

Good Morning!

Indian equity markets ended Tuesday’s volatile trading session with gains. The HDFC twin contributed 70 of the 100 points gained by the NSE Nifty 50 Index.

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, fell 0.5% to 9,859 as of 7:50 a.m.

Asian stocks are mixed in mid-week trade as investors grapple between evidence of an economic recovery in the U.S., along with geopolitical tensions and concerns over a second wave of Covid-19 infections in China.

Markets in Japan pared some of their 4% surge on Tuesday and South Korea edged lower as well. Benchmarks in Hong Kong and Australia trade with gains.

Futures on the Dow Jones are trading lower by 100 points after the benchmark index ended 2% higher overnight.

Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar are holding on to gains, while West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2% to $37.58 per barrel.

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