Sensex, Nifty’s Best Gain Since 2009 And Worst Weekly Drop Since 2008

Indian equity markets staged a strong rebound on Friday, snapping a four-day losing streak to post their biggest one-day gain since 2009. However, the surge was not enough to prevent the indices from posting their worst weekly drop since October 2008.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended with gains of 5.75 percent, the most since May 18, 2009. 28 out of the 30 constituents ended with gains. For the week, the index posted losses of 12.2 percent, the worst since October 2008.

The NSE Nifty 50 index ended at 8,745, higher by 5.83 percent, the most since May 18, 2009. 46 out of the 50 stocks ended with gains. For the week, the index was down 12.1 percent, the worst since October 2008.

All sectoral indices ended with gains.

Railway travel operator IRCTC in an interaction with BloombergQuint said that it is likely to lose Rs 100 - 120 crore of turnover due to the cancellations resulting out of the Covid-19 impact.

Managing Director MP Mall said that the impact is likely to be felt in the first quarter of FY21. “Internet ticket sales have fallen by 25 percent,” Mall said, adding that business travel will recovery faster when compared with tourism travel.

The stock is locked in lower circuit for the fifth straight day today. It has fallen 51 percent from its 52-week high of Rs 1,995, made on February 25, 2020.

• Buy NALCO for target of Rs 40 and stop loss of Rs 28
• Buy SAIL for target of Rs 40 and stop loss of Rs 23
• Buy Jindal Stainless for target of Rs 40 and stop loss of Rs 24
• Buy Kotak Mahindra Bank for target of Rs 1,500 and stop loss of Rs 1,150
• Buy HDFC Bank for target of Rs 1,080 and stop loss of Rs 790

Nifty: March 26 Expiry

• 9,000 Call: Premium up 29.4 percent to Rs 182.25. The contract has added 2.5 lakh shares in open interest.
• 8,000 Put: Premium falls 32.7 percent to Rs 247.80. The contract has added 9.45 lakh shares in open interest.
• 9,500 Call: Premium rises 14.77 percent to Rs 68.40. The contract has added 2.77 lakh shares in open interest.

Nifty Bank: March 26 Expiry

• 22,000 Call: Premium falls 13.6 percent to Rs 337. The contract has added 1.37 lakh shares in open interest.
• 23,000 Call: Premium falls 12.96 percent to Rs 167.70. The contract has added 1.1 lakh shares in open interest.
• 25,000 Call: Premium falls 46.9 percent to Rs 39.40. The contract has added 1.51 lakh shares in open interest.

• Nifty up 3.7 percent, off the day's high at 8,568
• Nifty futures add 6 percent in open interest and trade at a discount of 61 points
• Nifty Bank down 0.8 percent, off the day's high at 19,923
• Nifty Bank futures add 18 percent in open interest and trade at a discount of 96 points
• Midcap and Smallcap index off the day's high but trade with gains of over 2 percent
• India Volatility Index down 6.3 percent at 67.65
• 1,047 stocks trade with gains and 491 stocks trade with losses

Future Consumer

• Locked in a lower circuit for the tenth straight day
• Trades at the lowest level since March 2015
• Market cap erosion of Rs 1,969 crore

Future Supply Chain Solutions

• 13th straight day of declines
• Locked in a lower circuit for the seventh straight day
• Posts longest ever losing streak
• Trades at an all-time low
• Market cap erosion of Rs 1,089 crore

Future Lifestyle Fashions

• Third straight day of declines
• Down 40 percent in the last three sessions
• Trades at the lowest level since March 2017
• Market Cap erosion of Rs 2,419 crore

Future Retail

• Down for the 11th straight day
• Locked in a lower circuit for the seventh straight day
• Posts longest ever losing streak
• Trades at an all-time low
• Market cap erosion of Rs 10,163 crore

Apollo Tyres Ltd., in a statement to the exchanges has informed that the senior management will take a voluntary reduction in pay, due to the impact of the Coronavirus on the Indian auto industry.

• Onkar Kanwar, Chairman and Managing Director and Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and MD, will take a 25 percent reduction in their salaries.
• The senior management too will take a voluntary 15 percent pay cut.

• Nifty trades 2.54 percent higher at 8,472
• Nifty March futures add 9 percent in open interest and trade at a discount of 55.7 points
• Nifty Bank trades 1.15 percent lower at 19,852 but off the day's low
• Nifty Bank March futures add 26 percent in open interest and trade at a discount of 8 points
• Nifty Midcap and smallcap index trade with gains of over 2 percent
• 59 stocks in the Nifty 500 index trade at a 52-week low
• India Volatility Index snaps nine-day losing streak, down 6.3 percent at 67.64

• 18.4 lakh shares of Indiabulls Real Estate changed hands in a single large trade
• 26.8 lakh shares of ITC changed hands in a single large trade
• 10 lakh shares of Bharti Infratel changed hands in a single large trade

Buyers and sellers of the trade were not immediately known, as per Bloomberg data.

• Indiabulls Real Estate currently trades 1.2 percent lower at Rs 45.80
• ITC is among the top Nifty gainers, up 5.44 percent at Rs 170.65
• Bharti Infratel trades 9.1 percent higher at Rs 135.65.

Shares of the private lender surged as much as 19.48 percent to Rs 239.85 on the National Stock Exchange, snapping a six-day losing streak.

The bank in a conference call on Thursday said that there have been some withdrawals from government entities which amount to less than 1 percent of the total deposits.

Some of the other highlights of the concall were:

• Assam collection efficiency at 93 percent. Total exposure to Assam at Rs 6,586 crore.
• Disbursements have resumed but are slow, steady and selective
• Can see some increase in NPAs of Gruh Finance
• Will stop disbursements and collections in a worst case scenario

The stock had fallen 46 percent in the six straight days of declines.

Brokerage firm Bernstein has downgraded HDFC Bank Ltd. to underperform from the earlier rating of marketperform as it carries 'idiosyncratic risks and unique management challenges.'

The note highlights HDFC Bank's exposure to unsecured consumer credit risk as compared to its other private peers. Some of the other highlights of the report include:

• HDB Financial may also pose challenges as it focuses on weak informal income segments
• Expect earnings growth to slow to sub-15 percent in FY21
• Succession challenges to impact its premium valuation multiples
• See 33 percent compression of its one-year forward target multiple to 13x its earnings, as against a 5-year long-term average of 21x.
• Price target of Rs 750 implies a 14 percent downside.

The stock fell as much as 7.93 percent to Rs 824.55, the lowest level since July 2017.

Nifty: March 26 Expiry

• 9,000 Call: Premium falls 22.1 percent to Rs 109.55. The contract has added 7.1 lakh shares in open interest.
• 8,000 Put: Premium falls 21 percent to Rs 291.45. The contract has added 3.66 lakh shares in open interest.
• 8,500 Call: Premium falls 8.3 percent to Rs 275.65. The contract has added 2.68 lakh shares in open interest.

Nifty Bank: March 26 Expiry

• 18,000 Put: Premium rises 2.6 percent to Rs 625.85. The contract has added 66,+90 shares in open interest.
• 23,000 Call: Premium rises 10.5 percent to Rs 212.65. The contract has added 35,700 shares in open interest.
• 20,000 Put: Premium rises 13.65 percent to Rs 1,399. The contract has added 8,640 shares in open interest.

• Nifty trades 0.5 percent higher at 8,300
• Nifty March futures add 4.6 percent in open interest and trade at a discount of 54 points.
• Nifty Bank trades 2.7 percent lower at 19,545
• Nifty Bank March futures add 19 percent in open interest and trade at a discount of 33.6 points.
• India Volatility Index down 0.3 percent at 72
• Nifty Midcap and Smallcap Index gain 0.3 percent each
• Nifty Realty is the top sectoral laggard
• L&T along with Eicher Motors trades at a 52-week low

Shares of the Housing finance company are down for 9 out of the last 10 trading sessions. The company on Thursday clarified that it has no loan outstanding from Yes Bank. This was in regards to Rana Kapoor mortgaging a property to the company in November 2017 for a loan of Rs 285 crore.

From levels of Rs 285.45 on the close of trade on March 5, the stock now trades at Rs 85.10, down another 6 percent in today's trade, which is an all-time low.

The decline of the last 10 sessions has seen a market cap erosion of Rs 8,571 crore for the stock.

Shares of the integrated biotechnology player rose as much as 3.84 percent to Rs 262.60 on the National Stock Exchange.

The company received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the U.S. FDA for its Small Molecules API manufacturing unit in Bengaluru.

In a statement to the exchanges, the company said that the inspection was conducted between February 20 and 26. The U.S. FDA had issued two observations at the end of the inspection which were procedural in nature.

The company has mentioned that the EIR has been closed with a VAI (Voluntary Action Initiated) classification for these observations.

Indian equity markets saw a volatile opening trade. Asian markets continued to trade with gains.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 1.22 percent to 28,632 after falling to an opening lows of 28,076. 24 out of the 30 index constituents are trading with gains.

The NSE Nifty 50 index gained as much as 1.52 percent to 8,388 after falling to opening lows of 8,210. 45 out of the 50 index stocks traded with gains.

Most sectoral indices other than the financial indices are trading with gains.

Market breadth was in favour of the advances with 862 stocks opening with gains while 378 stocks opened with declines.

• Sell Bank of Baroda for target of Rs 55 and stop loss of Rs 63
• Buy United Spirits for target of Rs 535 and stop loss of Rs 480

The Indian rupee opened stronger after hitting a record low of 75.31 on Thursday. The currency opened at 74.78 against the U.S. Dollar as compared to Thursday's close of 75.06.

Yield on India's 10-year bond opened at 6.381 as compared to Thursday's close of 6.41.

• Buy Tata Steel near 270 for target of Rs 285 - 300 and stop loss of Rs 263
• Buy Sun Pharma near Rs 360 for target of Rs 375 - 380 and stop loss of Rs 355

• Tata Motors: Jaguar Land Rover to temporarily suspend production in the U.K. Operations at plants n Brazil, India will continue.
• Hero Moto: Files application with Supreme Court seeking relaxation of March 31 deadline for sale or registration of BS-IV vehicles.
• Bandhan Bank: The lender in a conference call said that it will stop disbursements and collections in a worst-case scenario of a complete lockdown for 15-20 days. It also said that there have been some withdrawals in deposits from government entities which amounts to less than 1 percent of the total deposit base.
• SBI: Board to consider extension of approval for raising equity capital up to Rs 20,000 crore till March 2021 on March 27.
• Sobha: Board approved the issue of debentures up to Rs 270 crore by way of a private placement.
• Praj Industries: To consider share buyback on March 27.
• Jindal Stainless clarified that there is no loan raised against promoter’s pledged shares and the current erosion in its share price has not triggered any margin requirements or calls by lenders.
• ICICI Lombard Insurance has launched a dedicated insurance cover for coronavirus, in group insurance mode. The health cover is priced at a premium of Rs 149 and provides a sum insured of Rs 25,000 for ages 18-75. The company will pay the entire sum insured, in a lump sum in the event of the first diagnosis of COVID-19 during the policy period.

• Worldwide cases at 2,31,319 with the death toll topping 9,600
• Death Toll in Italy surpasses that of China
• English Premier League postponed until April 30
• British Government denies plans to confine London citizens to their homes and ban them for leaving the capital
• U.K.'s chief negotiator David Frost in isolation after showing symptoms of the Coronavirus
• India death toll rises to four; India bars all incoming flights for a week.

Benchmarks on Wall Street ended with gains on Thursday, with the NASDAQ outperforming with gains of 2.3 percent. The Dow Jones ended above the 20,000-mark.

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 1.3 percent, the eighth day of gains.
• The yield on the U.S. 10-year treasury fell three basis points to 1.16 percent.
• West Texas Intermediate saw its biggest ever surge, gaining 25 percent to $25.43 per barrel.
• CBOE Volatility Index fell for the second straight day, ending at the mark of 72.

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.71 percent to 8,233 as of 8:15 a.m.

Asian markets are trading with gains after a positive close on Wall Street on Thursday.

Markets in Hong Kong trade with gains of 2 percent while those in Australia and South Korea gain 3 percent each.

The dollar is trading with declines after an eight-day surge, while the Australian and New Zealand currency gained. Australian bonds gained as their central bank began to buy bonds. China's offshore yuan rose despite the weakest daily fixing of its currency in 12 years.

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