Sensex, Nifty Clock Best Week Of 2019 On Budget Proposals

Indian equity benchmarks clocked best week of 2019 on Narendra Modi government's last budget proposals.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.59 percent or 213 points to 35,469 and NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.58 percent 63 points to 10,894.

For the week, Sensex rose 1.2 percent and the Nifty advanced 1 percent.

The central government fiscal deficit for 2018-19 settled at 3.4 percent and it was maintained at the same level for next financial year, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced at the start of his budget speech.

Modi government also announced slew of populist measures by cutting taxes for middle-class and giving cash handouts to farmers.

Budget is lot less populist then expected, Ananth Narayan, professor at SPJIMR told BloombergQuint in an interview.

Fifteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE Auto Index’s 2.65 percent gain. On the flipside, S&P BSE Metal Index was the top loser, down 3.8 percent.

Mid- and small-caps ended on a mixed note as the S&P BSE MidCap Index rose 0.6 percent while the S&P BSE SmallCap Index rose 0.2 percent.

Shares of the Noida-based drugmaker held on to gains after its profit met Bloomberg consensus estimates in December quarter.

Key earnings highlights:

• Net profit at Rs 260 crore versus estimate Rs 245 crore
• Revenue at Rs 2,350 crore versus estimate of Rs 2,364 crore

Shares of Dr. Reddy’s laboratories Ltd. rose as much as 2.5 percent to Rs 2,789, its highest level since March 2017. The pharmaceutical company’s quarterly profit rose 45 percent on a yearly basis and topped analysts estimates during the three months ended December.

Key earnings highlights (Q3, YoY)

• Revenues up 1 percent at Rs 3850 crore (Bloomberg estimate at Rs 3,878 crore)
• Net profit up 45 percent at Rs 485 crore (Bloomberg estimate at Rs 380 crore)
• Ebitda up 6 percent at Rs 815 crore (Bloomberg estimate at Rs 754 crore)
• Margins at 21.1 percent versus 20.2 percent (Bloomberg estimate at 19.4 percent)

Indian equity benchmarks fluctuated between gains and losses as banking stocks weigh after SBI announced its quarterly results.

Both the S&P BSE Sensex Index and the NSE nifty 50 Index traded at little changed at 36,291 and 10,836 respectively.

The benchmark indices were weighed down by banking shares—ICICI Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd. and SBI.

The government has announced a number of expenditure measures, which will increase outlays and put pressure on its ability to meet its fiscal deficit target, according to Moody’s Investor Services.

"Ongoing slippage from the government’s budgeted fiscal deficit targets over the past two years, and our expectation that the government will face challenges meeting its target again this coming fiscal year (ending March 2020) does not bode well for medium term fiscal consolidation,” Associate Managing Director of Sovereign Risk Group, Gene Fang said in a note.

“We view this continued slippage as credit negative for the sovereign." He highlighted India's high debt burden as its biggest challenge which is "not expected to diminish rapidly".

At the same time, Moody's said that policies aimed at promoting expenditure efficiency through rationalisation of government schemes and better-targeted delivery, including through direct income transfer schemes, are credit positive. However, that will only be the case if the schemes are implemented correctly.

Shares of SBI fluctuated between gains and losses to trade a little changed at Rs 294.50 after announcing its quarterly results.

Key earnings highlights (Q3, YoY)

• Net Interest Income up 21 percent at Rs 22,691 crore.
• Net profit at Rs 3,955 crore versus net loss of Rs 2,416 crore.
• GNPA at 8.71 percent versus 9.95 percent (QoQ).
• NNPA at 3.95 percent vs 4.84 percent (QoQ).
• Other income at Rs 8,035 crore versus Rs 8,084 crore (YoY); 7,814 crore (QoQ).

Shares of M&M rallied nearly 5 percent after its last month's auto sales rose 7 percent on a yearly basis to 55,722 units. Its tractor sales rose 1 percent on a yearly basis to 22,065 units during the period.

Key Sales Highlights (Auto Division, YoY)

• Passenger vehicle sales rose 1 percent to 23,872 units.
• Utility vehicle remained flat at 22,263 units.
• Cars and Vans segment rose 11 percent to 1,609 units.
• Commercial vehicle sales rose 8 percent to 22,625 units.
• Three-wheeler sales rose 27 percent to 6,003 units.
• Total domestic sales up 6 percent at 52,500 units.
• Total exports jumped 22 percent to 3,222 units.

Tractor Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic sales up 1 percent at 20,948 units.
• Exports up 2 percent at 1,243 units.

Indian equity benchmarks traded near day’s high as the investors digested Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s Budget speech.

The S&P BSE Sensex Index rose 0.9 percent to 36,600 as of 12:55 a.m. and the NSE Nifty 50 Index rose 0.97 percent to 10,937.05.

Ten out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE rallied, led by the NSE Nifty Auto Index’s 3.7 percent advance. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Metal index was the only sectoral loser, down nearly 3 percent.

• India to receive Rs 82,900 crore in dividend from RBI, state-run banks in FY20.
• India to receive Rs 74,100 crore from RBI, state-run banks in FY19.
• India disinvestment receipts seen at Rs 90,000 crore in FY20
• India doesn't allocate any sum to recapitalize banks in FY20
• India FY20 fertilizer subsidy seen at Rs 74,990 crore versus Rs 70,008 crore in FY19
• India FY20 food subsidy seen at Rs 1.84 lakh crore versus Rs 1.71 lakh crore in FY19
• India says gross tax revenue seen at Rs 25.52 lakh crore for FY20
• India FY20 petroleum subsidy seen at Rs 37,480 crore versus Rs 24,830 crore in FY19
• India FY20 defence spending seen at Rs 3.05 lakh crore versus Rs 2.85 lakh crore in FY19

Here are the first reactions to the Budget announced by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal:

Shares of the real estate companies surged after Piyush Goyal Proposed to exempt tax on notional rent on second self-occupied house.

Key announcements for real estate sector:

• Benefit of rollover of capital gains increased to two houses from one.
• Proposed no TDS on rent up to Rs 2.4 Lakh.

Individual taxpayers with income upto Rs 5 lakh will get a full tax rebate, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal proposed in the parliament today.

Read the full story here. Click here to catch all the live budget updates.

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains after Finance Minister pegged fiscal deficit at 3.4 percent of GDP for FY20 and proposed no tax on income of up to Rs 5 lakhs per annum.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.7 percent or 242 points to 36,504 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 0.7 percent or 75 points to 10,905.

Finance minister added that the government will achieve fiscal gap of 3 percent by FY20-21.

Sixteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the SP BSE Auto Index's 3 percent gain. On the flipside, S&P BSE Metal Index was top loser, down 3.56 percent.

Shares of the truck and bus maker rose as much as 6.7 percent, after its January sales rose 9 percent on a yearly basis to 19,741 units.

Key sales highlights (YoY):

• Medium and heavy commercial truck sales rose 9 percent to 12,802 units.
• Medium and heavy commercial bus rose 1 percent to 1,892 units
• Light commercial vehicle sales rose 9 percent to 5,047 units.

The Goods and Services Tax scheme has saved consumers Rs 80,000 crore, Goyal said today.

The government further wants to reduce the GST burden on homebuyers. GST collections so far have showed an average of Rs 97,000 crore per month. The government yesterday said that the collection for December will cross the Rs 1 lakh crore mark.

The data may be a temporary reprieve for the Narendra Modi-administration as GST collections had been falling for the past two months. The government’s finances are under stress as it races to meet its 3.3-percent fiscal deficit target.

Goyal says the government is full committed in its fight against the black money. He said:

• Made seizures worth Rs 50,000 crore in anti-black money moves
• Anti-black money measures have brought in revenues of Rs 1.3 lakh crore
• Benami properties of Rs 6900 crore attached
• 3.38 lakh shell companies identified, directors penalised
• 1.6 lakh new taxpayers as result of note ban in FY18
• Illegal foreign property worth Rs 1600 crore attached

Finance Minister allocated Rs Rs 1,58,658 crore for capital expenditure for railways.

Shares of movie exhibitors and producers rose after Finance Minister Goyal proposed measure to check film piracy.

Shares of defence equipment maker held on to gains as government allocated Rs 3 lakh crore for defence budget.

Shares of the rural focused stocks like Escorts and M&M rallied after the government announced slew of schemes focused on development of rural economy.

Schemes announced by government include:

• Government announced to launch 'Kisan Samman Nidhi' for small, marginal farmers.
• Government assured income support for small and marginal farmers.

Shares of food processing companies rose after the government announced two percent interest subvention for farmers in animal husbandry and fisheries.

• Centre to spend Rs 75,000 crore annually on farm income support scheme
• First income support instalment to farmers to be disbursed soon
• Income support to be transferred in installments of Rs 2,000 each
• Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to be funded by central government
• Small, marginal farmers to get Rs 6,000 per year as income support
• To launch 'Kisan Samman Nidhi' for small, marginal farmers

Shares of seed processing companies rose after government allocated Rs 60,000 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

The central government fiscal deficit for 2018-19 settled at 3.4 percent of the GDP, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced at the start of his budget speech on Friday.

This is marginally higher than the target of 3.3 percent. This is the second year in a row that the government has missed its fiscal deficit target.

• Bond yield on 10 year government bond drops to 7.27 percent.

Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal began Union Budget 2019-20 speech with wishing speedy recover to Union Minister Arun Jaitley.

• In last five years India has been recognised as bright spot of the global economy.
• From being 11th largest economy in 2013-14 we are sixth largest economy in the world.

Saurabh Mukherjea of Marcellus to BloombergQuint:

• Expect government to announce disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore.
• Expect amount around half a percent of GDP to be announced for Universal Basic Income.
• Don't think finance minister has room to claw back Long Term Capital Gains Tax.
• Reasonably clear that global economy is slowing down.

Manufacturing PMI in India increased to 53.9 in January from 53.2 in December of 2018. Manufacturing PMI in India is reported by Markit Economics.

Indian equity benchmarks held on to gains ahead of Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal's maiden Budget speech.

The Sensex rose 0.35 percent to 36,386 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.32 percent to 10,866.

Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing buying interest as the S&P BSE MidCap Index rose 0.7 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap Index climbed 0.5 percent.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,100 shares were advancing while 800 were declining on the BSE.

Shares of the Mumbai-based housing finance company slumped 11.7 percent to Rs 119.95.

DHFL has appointed an independent Chartered Accountant firm to verify the allegations made by media portal Cobrapost and submit a report in a time bound manner, according to its exchange filing.

Trading volume six times its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed.

Shares of the Mumbai-based airline operator rose as much as 18.38 percent, the most in over two weeks, to Rs 282.

Jet Airways’ chief executive officer Vinay Dube has informed employees that the airline is close to finding a solution to the financial crisis, Business Standard reported citing an email he wrote to employees.

Shares of the country's largest carmaker extended gain after its sales rose 0.2 percent in January.

Key sales highlights (YoY):

• Alto, WagonR sales rose 0.3 percent to 33,408 units.
• Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire sales declined 3.5 percent to Rs 65,523 units.
• Ciaz sales plunged 42 percent to 2,934 units.
• S-Cross, Vitara, Brezza, Ertiga and Gypsy sales advanced 8.4 percent to 22,430 units.
• Omni, Ecco sales advanced 23.6 percent to 15,145 units.
• Total domestic sales advanced 1.1 percent to 1,42,150 units.
• Total exports fell 11 percent to 9,571 units.

Shares of the second largest wireless telecom services provider rose as much as 3.79 percent, the most since Dec. 26, to Rs 318 after it reported surprise profit in December quarter against BloombergQuint’s consensus estimate of loss of Rs 990 crore.

Key earnings highlights:

• Revenue rose 0.5 percent sequentially to Rs 20,519.2 crore.
• Profit declined 27.4 percent to Rs 86.2 crore.
• Operating profit fell 0.4 percent to Rs 6,218 crore.
• Margin narrowed 30 basis points to 30.3 percent.
• Average revenue per user rose 4 percent to Rs 104 per month.

The profit was because of an exceptional gain of Rs 1,413.7 crore and a deferred tax asset of Rs 716 crore during the quarter—without which the operator would have reported a loss.

Shares of Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce surged after they were removed from Reserve Bank of India's Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework.

The three lenders were part of eleven government owned banks put under the framework in 2017 and 2018. The RBI’s decision to impose lending restrictions on these banks had become a flash point between the regulator and the government, which wanted lending capacity to be freed up.

• Oriental Bank of Commerce rose as much as 4 percent to Rs 99.55.
• Bank of India advanced 4 percent to Rs 407.
• Bank of Maharashtra climbed 16 percent to Rs 16.93.

Indian equity benchmarks edged higher ahead of Union Budget 2019 led by gains in HDFC, Reliance Industries and Infosys. However, gains were capped as Vedanta came under selling pressure on corporate governance concerns.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.2 percent or 80 points to 36,336 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.2 percent or 24 points to 10,855.

Seventeen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the S&P BSE Auto Index's 1 percent gain. On the flipside, S&P BSE Metal Index was top loser, down 3.6 percent.

• Rupee opened flat at 71.10 per dollar against yesterday's close of 71.08 ahead of Union Budget 2019.

Escorts Ltd. sold 5,991 units last month, an increase of 12.7 percent from January 2018, according to its stock exchange filing.

Key sales highlights (YoY)

• Domestic sales rose 11.7 percent to 5,762 units.
• Exports rose 46.8 percent to 229 units.

On Vedanta

Macquarie

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; cut target price to Rs 223 from Rs 260.
• Q3 Ebitda was below expectation led by loss at aluminium division.
• Purchase in economic interest in Anglo American from parent should raise capital allocation risks.
• Vedanta cut FY19 volume guidance for oil and zinc international division.

Motilal Oswal

• Downgraded to ‘sell’ from ‘buy’; cut target price to Rs 170 from Rs 230.
• Ebitda in line, but mark to market gains lead to net profit beat.
• Related-party transaction will de-rate the stock.
• Transaction appears at arm’s length, but the counter party risk is high because parent drives its value from Vedanta and (parent) is highly leveraged.

CLSA

• Downgraded to ‘sell’ from ‘buy’; cut target price to Rs 170 from Rs 250.
• Ebitda rose sequentially but was a miss mainly led by zinc.
• Related party transaction raises concerns on use of cash.
• Concerns are likely to drag down Vedanta’s valuations as well.

On Hero MotoCorp

Macquarie

• Maintained ‘outperform’ with target price of Rs 3,200.
• Operating profits were in line with expectations.
• Market share declined amidst elevated competition.
• Management expects high single digit growth in FY20.

CLSA

• Maintained ‘sell’; cut target price to Rs 2,400 from Rs 2,800.
• Margin slipped partly due to higher commodity prices.
• Muted demand outlook as key high-priced-100cc bike segment shrinking.
• Regulatory changes and high competition should keep margins under pressure.

On Bharti Airtel

UBS

• Maintained ‘buy’ with target price of Rs 415.
• Mobile business stabilising in India and strong Africa performance continue.
• Customer engagement continues to improve in India mobile business.
• Maintained buy on accelerated investments in 4G and solid market share.

CLSA

• Maintained ‘buy’ with target price of Rs 425.
• Positive surprise in India mobile revenues led by 4G data subscription additions.
• Consolidated margin decline on increased network costs and high capital expenditure.
• Upcoming Africa IPO will be a stock catalyst.

On Dabur

Macquarie

• Maintained neutral with target price of Rs 412.
• Growth recovered in oral care and foods segments in Q3.
• Margin pressure in Q3 was led by international business and input cost inflation.
• Company saw strong domestic volume growth.

CLSA

• Maintained ‘buy’; hiked target price to Rs 535 from Rs 500.
• Highlight was annual volume growth which was much ahead of estimates.
• Gross margins were weak but in-line Ebitda margins.
• Q3 saw strong domestic growth with positive outlook.

Macquarie on Petronet LNG

• Maintained ‘outperform’ with target price of Rs 270.
• Petronet LNG’s consistent performance continues.
• Believe capital allocation and competition risks are overblown.
• Expect high payout led by strong FCF and net cash position.

• Nifty February futures closed trading at 10,856, premium of 25 points.
• Max open interest for January series at 11,000 Call, (OI at 27.8 lakh shares).
• Max open interest for January series at 10,700 Put, (OI at 30 lakh shares).

Who’s Meeting Whom

• Crompton Greaves to meet LionRock Capital, Black Rock and other investors from Feb. 11-18.
• Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochem to meet PNB Parisbas, Enam Holdings and other investors on Feb. 1.

Bulk Deals

• Setco Automotive: Promoter Setco Engineering Private sold 7 lakh shares or 0.52 percent equity at Rs 30.55 each.

Trading Tweaks

• R System International record date for share buyback.
• PTC India price band revised to 20 percent.
• LKP Finance, PTC India, Linde India, SITI Networks price band revised to 10 percent.

Insider Trading

• Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochem Robust Marketing Services acquired 50,000 shares on Jan. 28.
• Sterlite Technologies promoter group Ankit Agarwal acquired 11,600 shares on Jan. 29.
• GMR Infra promoter GMR Enterprises acquired 3.25 lakh shares on Jan. 28
• L&T Technology Services promoter Larsen & Toubro sold 15.45 lakh shares on Jan. 30.

Nifty Earnings To Watch

• Dr. Reddy’s Labs
• State Bank of India
• Titan

Other Earnings To Watch

• Akzo Nobel
• Astron Paper & Board Mill
• Berger Paints
• BSE
• Carborundum Universal
• Deepak Nitrite
• Dredging Corporation of India
• EID Parry
• Elgi Equipments
• Equitas Holdings
• Excel Industries
• Galaxy Surfactants
• GIC Housing Finance
• H.G. Infra Engineering
• Hikal , Jagran Prakashan
• Kalpataru Power Transmission
• Monsanto
• National Fertilizers
• NOCIL
• Sequent Scientific
• Shanthi Gears
• Sheela Foam
• Sterling Biotech
• Sundram Fasteners
• Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts
• Investment Trust Of India
• Unichem Laboratories
• Vardhman Special Steels
• Voltamp Transformers
• Westlife Development
• Capri Global Capital

Earnings Reaction To Watch

Power Grid (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue up 12.8 percent at Rs 8,471.2 crore.
• Net profit up 14.2 percent at Rs 2,331.2 crore.
• Ebitda up 12.3 percent at Rs 7,569.4 crore.
• Margin at 89.4 percent versus 89.8 percent.

Bharti Airtel (Q3, QoQ)

• Revenue up 0.5 percent Rs 20,519 crore.
• Ebitda down 0.4 percent at Rs 6,218 crore.
• Margin at 30.3 percent versus 30.6 percent.
• Net profit down 28 percent Rs 86.2 crore.
• Average revenue per user up 4 percent at Rs 104.
• Exceptional gain of Rs 1, 414 crore and deferred tax asset of Rs 716 crore.

Vedanta (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue down 3 percent to Rs 23,669 crore.
• Ebitda down 11 percent to Rs 5,953 crore.
• Ebitda margin at 29 percent versus 35 percent.
• Net profit down 21 percent at Rs 1,574 crore.

Hero MotoCorp (Q3, YoY)

• Net revenue up 7.5 percent at Rs 7,865 crore.
• Net profit down 4 percent at Rs 769 crore.
• Ebitda down 4 percent at Rs 1,105 crore.
• Margin at 14 percent versus 15.8 percent.
• Declared dividend of Rs 55 per share.

UPL (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue up 17.3 percent at Rs 4,921 crore.
• Net profit down 19.7 percent at Rs 461 crore.
• Ebitda up 22.6 at Rs 1,016 crore.
• Margin at 20.6 percent versus 19.8 percent.
• Exceptional loss of Rs 91 crore.

Dena Bank (Q3, YoY)

• Net Interest Income down 9.8 percent at Rs 631 crore.
• Net loss at Rs 178.5 crore versus net loss at Rs 380.1 crore.
• Provisions at Rs 519.4 crore versus Rs 1,044.3 crore (QoQ)
• GNPA at 19.77 percent versus 23.64 percent (QoQ)
• NNPA at 10.44 percent versus 11.7 percent (QoQ)

TD Power Systems (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue down 6.5 percent at Rs 87.5 crore.
• Net loss at Rs 3.8 crore versus net loss of Rs 2.3 crore.
• Ebitda loss at Rs 2 crore versus Ebitda profit at Rs 4 crore.

Petronet LNG (Q3, QoQ)

• Revenue down 6 percent at Rs 10,097.7 crore.
• Net profit up 0.4 percent at Rs 565.3 crore.
• Ebitda down 4 percent at Rs 848 crore.
• Margin at 8.4 percent versus 8.2 percent.

Laurus Labs (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue up 10.6 percent at Rs 529.5 crore.
• Net profit down 49 percent at Rs 17.8 crore.
• Ebitda up 0.3 percent at Rs 87.7 crore.
• Margin at 16.6 percent versus 18.3 percent.

NMDC (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue up 47.8 percent at Rs 3,649.4 crore.
• Net profit up 77.9 percent at Rs 1,576.7 crore.
• Ebitda up 78.1 percent at Rs 2,154.3 crore.
• Margin at 59 percent versus 49 percent.

HSIL (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue up 27 percent at Rs 735.7 crore.
• Net profit up 63.5 percent at Rs 25.5 crore.
• Ebitda up 47.8 percent at Rs 107.3 crore.
• Margin at 14.6 percent versus 12.5 percent.
• Exceptional loss of Rs 7 crore in base quarter.

Accelya Kale Solutions Q2 (Year Ends In June) YoY

• Revenue up 17.2 percent at Rs 107.8 crore.
• Net profit up 30.6 percent at Rs 30.3 crore.
• Ebitda up 49.3 percent at Rs 42.7 crore.
• Margin at 39.6 percent versus 31.1 percent.
• Declares Dividend of Rs 17 per share.

Narayana Hrudayalaya (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue up 32.2 percent at Rs 732.1 crore.
• Net profit down 9.9 percent at Rs 12.7 crore.
• Ebitda up 51.6 percent at Rs 77.9 crore.
• Margin at 10.6 percent versus 9.3 percent.
• Depreciation and finance costs rise by 68 percent.

• The Reserve Bank of India said that Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce were allowed to exit the prompt corrective action framework after meeting the regulatory norms.
• DHFL appointed an independent Chartered Accountant firm to verify the allegations made in the complaint and submit a report in a time bound manner.
• Yes Bank received the Reserve Bank of India’s nod for appointment of Ajai Kumar as the Interim managing director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank with effect from Feb. 1 until Ravneet Gill assumes office.
• M&M: European Union cleared Sumitomo and Mahindra JV. (Bloomberg News)
• Skipper received observation letters from exchanges regarding the company’s demerger resulting in Skipper Pipes. The company said that it has received No- Objection Certificate from the exchanges and will now file the draft scheme with NCLT.
• Suzlon Energy sold its balance stake in Prathmesh for Rs 57 crore to Ostro Energy.
• SQS India BFSI approved a share buyback of 4.6 lakh shares at a price of Rs 550 per share aggregating to Rs 25.3 crore.
• MOIL: Prices of ferro and chemical grade decreased by about 5 percent on the existing prices prevailing since Jan. 1 and will continue with these prices for the Silico Manganese Grade and Fines.
• Punjab National Bank increased MCLR across various tenors by 5 basis points. One month MCLR at 8.20 percent and one-year MCLR was at 8.55 percent.
• Oriental Bank of Commerce received Rs 1,186 crore capital infusion from government of India. The bank said that the amount was utilised to make loan loss provision in order to bring down the net NPA ration below the threshold under Prompt Corrective framework.
• Adani Ports said it was considering raising Rs 2,000 crores via NCDs on Aug. 6.
• Sun TV Network to start transmission of its Bengali Channel from Feb. 3.
• Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders: India panel approved the construction of six submarines locally for Rs 40,000 crore. (Bloomberg News)

• Budget 2019: What to look for in the fine print
• Amazon shares drop on concerns about rising costs, India growth
• Government revises growth upwards for demonetisation year
• Is Vedanta’s investment in Anglo American a governance issue?
• GST collections cross Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for December
• U.K.’s divorce from EU may need to be delayed
• Three public sector banks freed from PCA framework as RBI blinks
• Mark Zuckerberg vaults to no. 5 in the ranking of world’s richest
• NITI Aayog jumps to defend Modi’s jobs record as debate rages
• FDI in e-commerce: Is it curtains for Amazon’s largest sellers?
• Only a fifth of stocks will attract long-term capital gains tax

Good Morning!

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India rose 0.43 percent or 47 points to 10,902 as of 6:39 a.m. ahead of Union Budget 2019.

Asian stocks pushed higher Friday, extending the rally in risk assets into February, though gains were modest following last month’s stellar run. Treasuries gave back some of their recent advance.

Japanese, Australian and South Korean stocks all edged higher. While technology shares led gains in the U.S. overnight, Nasdaq futures pointed lower following a tepid sales forecast from Amazon.com Inc.

Back home, investors focus on Narendra Modi government's last Union Budget ahead of general elections due later in the year. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expect gross borrowing may rise to Rs 6.4 lakh crore in FY20, compared with a revised Rs 5.35 lakh crore in FY19.

India’s fiscal deficit is forecast to widen to 3.5 percent of the gross domestic product in the year to March, and reach 3.3 percent in the next financial year, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index rose 0.9 percent. Futures slipped 0.1 percent.
• Japan’s Topix index gained 0.3 percent.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index edged up 0.2 percent.
• Hang Seng futures earlier added 0.3 percent.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 1.3 percent Thursday.

Currencies

• The yen held at 108.94 per dollar.
• The offshore yuan was steady at 6.7088 per dollar.
• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.
• The euro bought $1.1447.
• The British pound was little changed at $1.3110.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.3 percent to $53.97 a barrel.
• Gold held at $1,321.07 an ounce.