Sensex Ends At Over Six-Month High After A Volatile Trade

Indian equity benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended higher after a topsy-turvy trade, clocking its longest gaining streak since Dec. 19, 2018.

The 31-stock index ended 0.19 percent higher at 38,095.07, its highest level since Sept. 07, 2018.

The NSE Nifty 50 Index extended gains for the sixth consecutive trading session, its longest gaining streak in over a month. The 50-share gauge ended at 11,462.20, its highest level in six months.

The market breadth, however, was tilted in favour of sellers. About 1,015 stocks fell and 740 shares advanced on National Stock Exchange.

Eight out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Realty Index’s 2.8 percent gain. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Auto Index was the top sectoral loser, down 1.4 percent.

About 10 lakh shares of Gruh Finance changed hands in a block deal, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Brigade Enterprises

• Stock rose as much as 14.3 percent to Rs 259.
• Trading volume was almost 10 times its 20-day average.

HAL

• Stock rose as much as 6.5 percent to Rs 718.
• Trading volume was almost five times its 20-day average.

Coffee Day Enterprises

• Stock rose as much as 5.7 percent to Rs 318.
• Trading volume was almost four times its 20-day average.

Sterlite Technologies

• Stock fell as much as 6.6 percent to Rs 215.65.
• Trading volume was five times its 20-day average.

Indian equity benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell over 400 points from day's high to trade below 38,000.

Shares of the real estate developer extended gains for the sixth consecutive trading session, its longest winning streak in over a year. The stock rose as much as 18.3 percent to Rs 255, its highest levels in over seven months.

Trading volume was 12.1 times its 30-day average, Bloomberg data showed.

European equities traded mixed after rallying on Friday.

• Jet Airways: Shares of the airline operator erased opening gains and fell as much as 0.9 percent to Rs 233.05. The company has grounded four additional aircraft due to non-payment and will be delaying interest payments on bonds on temporary liquidity constraints, according to its stock exchange filing.
• Ratnamani Metals & Tubes: Shares of the welded tubes and pipemaker rose as much as 2 percent to Rs 908. The company has received new domestic order of Rs 298 core for supply of CS Coated Pipes for oil and gas sector, it said in a statement on the exchanges, adding that the order is expected to be completed between July to December.
• SPML Infra: Shares of the infrastructure firm rose as much as 19.9 percent to Rs 36.50. The company four new orders for water supply and irrigation projects worth over Rs 883 crore from Gujarat, Manipur and Punjab, according to its statement on the exchanges.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki fell as much as 4.3 percent, the most in nearly two months, to Rs 6,776.60.

The country’s largest carmaker cut production by a quarter over the March last year duw to slowing demand for passenger vehicles in India, Business Standard reported quoting people aware of the company plans.

“Maruti Suzuki is estimated to have cut production to about 1.26 lakh units, compared to more than 1.72 lakh units a year ago, a reduction of nearly 27 percent,” the report added.

The stock was the worst performer on Sensex and Nifty. Trading volume was almost triple its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The scrip fell 22 percent in the past 12 months compared to an 15 percent advance in the Sensex.

Indian equity benchmarks erased opening gains. Both the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 traded a little changed at 38,028 and 11,430 respectively.

Shares of the parent of Domino’s Pizza chain operator in India extended gains for the third consecutive trading session and rose as much as 1.7 percent to Rs 1,366.

Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. announced it had launched Domino’s Pizza in Bangladesh through a joint venture with Golden Harvest QSR, according to its notification to the bourses.

The stock advanced 29 percent in the past 12 months compared to a 16 percent gain in the BSE Sensex.

Nifty’s 11,500 call option contract was among the most active Nifty option contracts on National Stock Exchange.

Premium on the contract rose 16.48 percent to Rs 51.60. Over 4.08 lakh shares were added to the open interest which stood at over 12.29 lakh shares.

The NSE Nifty Bank Index extended gains for the sixth consecutive trading session to hit an all-time high.

Shares of the drugmaker slumped nearly 6.2 percent to Rs 740 per share, its lowest since May 2018.

Lupin’s subsidiary Novel Laboratories receives letter of intent from U.S. drug regulator classifies its New Jersey facility as ‘official action indicated’, in an exchange filing.

The stock traded 34 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year, according to Bloomberg data.

Shares of the Anil Ambani-led company fell as much as 9.1 percent to Rs 4.

NCLAT said in its order that it cannot direct banks to release the company’s Rs 2,600 crore income tax refund money for payment to Ericsson.

The stock fell 21 percent in the past five days and declined 31 percent in the past 30 days.

Shares of the information technology company rose as much as 2.4 percent to Rs 969.95.

Mindtree said it will consider a share buyback on March 20, it said in an exchange filing. Also, Subroto Bagchi, one of its founders, resigned as the head of Odisha's Skill Development Authority to return to the information technology company. He announced the resignation on late Sunday night on Twitter.

The stock advanced 18 percent in the past 12 months compared to an 15 percent advance in the Sensex.

Shares of the private lender rose as much as 3.4 percent to Rs 494.35 per share.

Bandhan Bank received ‘no objection’ from Reserve Bank of India for amalgamation of Gruh Finance with the bank, according to an exchange notification. Gruh Finance also stated in its press release that the company has received No-Objection letter from National Housing Bank for the above proposed scheme.

Also, HDFC received RBI’s approval to acquire shareholding of 9.9 percent or less of the paid-up voting capital of Bandhan Bank post amalgamation of Gruh Finance with Bandhan Bank.

Shares of Gruh Finance fell nearly 3 percent intraday while share of HDFC rose as much as 0.8 percent.

Shares of Bharti Infratel rose as much as 2.7 percent to Rs 321.60.

About 16 crore shares of the company worth over Rs 5000 crore changed hands in a block deal during pre-market trade, Bloomberg data showed.

While buyers and sellers were not known immediately, Bharti Airtel had earlier informed the exchanges that it will transfer up to 32 percent stake to its wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments Ltd. by March 18.

Trading volume was more than double its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The stock traded at 23 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains for the sixth consecutive trading session and is set for its longest gaining streak in nearly three months.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.78 percent to 38,321.47 and the NSE Nifty 50 rose as much as 0.76 percent to 11,514.20.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 990 stocks advanced and 462 shares declined on Nationals Stock Exchange.

Seven out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Private Bank Index’s 1.39 percent gains. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Phar am Index was the top sectoral loser, down 0.56 percent.

The Indian rupee opened higher against the U.S. dollar. The home currency appreciated as much as 0.3 percent to 68.86, the highest in over seven months.

The local legal tender is expected to gain, extending advances seen last week when it completed five straight week of gains and the longest winning stretch since Jan 2018.

Trade data released late on Friday showed that the gap had narrowed considerably, giving a big boost to the rupee which last year was the worst performing major currency in Asia. The trade gap was $9.6 billion last month -- the lowest in 17 months-- compared with $14.7 billion in January, and narrower than the $13.7 billion median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

In the bonds market, sentiment is likely to be supported by oil prices edging lower. Shorter maturity bonds will be in favor after the RBI last week said it plans to inject $5 billion through a dollar-swap auction. The yield on the most traded government bond due Jan 2028 fell five basis points on Friday to end at 7.50 percent while the benchmark 10-year yield dropped two basis points to 7.34 percent.

F&O Cues

• Nifty March futures closed trading at 11470, premium of 43 points.
• Max OI for March 28 series at 11,500 Call, OI at 23.5 lakh shares.
• Max OI for March 28 series at 11,000 Put, OI at 39.1 lakh shares.

Stocks In F&O Ban

• In Ban: Adani Enterprises, IDBI, Jet Airways, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Capital
• New in Ban: Reliance Capital
• Out of Ban: Reliance Power, BEML

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.77 versus 1.68.

CLSA on Lupin

1. Maintained ‘Sell’; cut price target to Rs 730 from Rs 760.
2. Lupin faces significant regulatory challenges.
3. Somerset accounts for 5-7 percent of total sales and 25 percent of ANDAs pending approvals.
4. Removing Somerset launches from estimates leads to 6-7 percent EPS cut for FY20-21.

CLSA on Cement

• 1 percent change in cement prices impacts FY20 EPS estimates by 5-8 percent.
• Industry behaviour and discipline are key pricing drivers.
• Strong demand should result in better pricing but trends suggest limited correlation.
• Pricing not exactly predictable and hence pricing volatility is here to stay.
• Positive on the sector with Ramco, Shree and ACC as top bets.

CLSA on Infrastructure

• New approved projects will support new order book till new government settles-in.
• Projects approvals are 64 percent infrastructure and 33 percent of power projects, and all are well-funded.
• Business visibility is near an all-time high, stocks are trading at low valuations.

• Kwality, Seamec to move into ASM Framework.
• Anup Engineering price band revised to 20 percent.

Stocks Moving Into Short-Term ASM Framework

• IFB Agro Industries
• Indo Count Industries
• Mercator
• IIFL Holdings
• RattanIndia Power
• Indiabulls Integrated Services
• MT Educare
• RattanIndia Infrastructure
• Skipper
• Manpasand Beverages
• Jindal Stainless
• GVK Power & Infrastructure
• Khadim
• Matrimony.Com
• Asian Granito India
• CESC Ventures
• Sadbhav Engineering

• Prabhat Dairy promoter Nirmal Family Trust created pledge of 90.15 lakh shares on March 13.
• Emami promoter group Prabhakar Viniyog created pledge of 1.1 lakh shares from March 11-12.

(As reported on March 15)

• SRF: Kotak MF acquired 7.2 lakh shares or 1.26 percent equity at Rs 2,400 each.
• NBCC: ICICI Pru MF acquired 1.4 crore shares or 0.78 percent equity at Rs 65.73 each.
• Reliance Communications: IndusInd Bank sold 1.57 crore shares or 0.57 percent equity at Rs 4.43 each.
• Unitech: Vanguard Group sold 1.47 crore shares or 0.56 percent equity at Rs 1.5 each.

Spencer’s Retail (No shareholding data given on exchanges)

• Promoter Rainbow Investments acquired 4 lakh shares at Rs 169.98 each.

RBL Bank

• Vanguard Group acquired 1 crore shares or 2.36 percent equity at Rs 648.49 each.
• Integrated Core Strategies (Asia) sold 27.5 lakh shares or 0.65 percent equity at Rs 647.8 each.

CARE Ratings

• Virtus Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund acquired 5.2 lakh shares or 1.77 percent equity at Rs 999 each.
• Reliance MF sold 5.19 lakh shares or 1.76 percent equity at Rs 999 each.

Vanguard Group Acquired Stake In Following Companies

• Aarti Industries: 4.16 lakh shares or 0.51 percent equity at Rs 1,425.32 each
• Bata India: 8.51 lakh shares or 0.66 percent equity at Rs 1,374.8 each.
• Castrol India: 50.83 lakh shares or 0.51 percent equity at Rs 166.05 each.
• DCB Bank: 40.04 lakh shares or 1.29 percent equity at Rs 201.69 each.
• NIIT Technologies: 8.39 lakh shares or 1.36 percent equity at Rs 1,336.81 each.
• Teamlease Services: 1.07 lakh shares or 0.63 percent equity at Rs 2,829.97 each.
• TTK Prestige: 75,600 shares or 0.66 percent equity at Rs 8536.06 each.
• V-Guard: 23.26 lakh shares or 0.55 percent equity at Rs 220.69 each.
• Vmart Retail: 1.55 lakh shares or 0.86 percent equity at Rs 2,628.1 each.

• Bandhan Bank received ‘No Objection’ from the Reserve Bank of India for amalgamation of Gruh Finance with the bank. Gruh Finance also stated in its press release that the company has received No-Objection letter from National Housing Bank for the above proposed scheme.
• HDFC received the RBI’s approval to acquire shareholding of 9.9 percent or less of the paid-up voting capital of Bandhan Bank post amalgamation of Gruh Finance with Bandhan Bank. The Corporation had applied for a maximum of 14.96 percent stake in the afore-mentioned entity to RBI. HDFC Ltd is the majority shareholder in Gruh Finance.
• NHPC board approved raising $100 million via external commercial borrowing from Japan’s MUFG Bank and raising bonds worth Rs 2,017.2 crore from the domestic market.
• Wipro launched artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions which will be powered by Amazon web services to develop supply chain management solutions.
• Oil India arm entered into a long-term sale and purchase agreement with Tokyo Gas, CNOOC, Centrica and BPCL arm.
• MSTC board approved extension of the bid period for the IPO from March 15 to March 20 and revising the price band from Rs 120 to Rs 128, which was earlier set at Rs 121- Rs 128. The issue period had started on March 13.
• Jubilant Foodworks launched Domino’s Pizza in Bangladesh.
• Reliance Communication: NCLAT said in its order that it cannot direct banks to release the company’s Rs 2,600 crore income tax refund money for payment to Ericsson.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India ordered Religare Finvest Ltd. and Religare Enterprises Ltd. to recall loans worth over Rs 2,300 crore that were diverted to promoters Shivinder Mohan Singh, Malvinder Mohan Singh and 21 other entities after finding preliminary evidence of fund diversion.
• India Ratings and Research downgraded rating of Vodafone Mobile Services’ NCDs worth Rs 6,000 crore from IND ‘AA-/Negative’ to IND ‘A+/Rating Watch Negative’. This company had merged with Vodafone India on August 31, 2018. The rating agency stated that these ratings stand migrated to Vodafone Idea.
• HUDCO raised Rs 5,320 crore via government bonds and the proceeds will be utilized for lending to Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ arm.
• NCLT approved demerger of Prakash Industries’ PVC pipes and fittings and flexible packaging business into Prakash Pipes.
• Embassy Office Parks allotted 5.8 crore units at Rs 300 per unit worth Rs 1,743 crore to anchor investors.

• Mindtree said it will consider a share buy-back on March 20. The company’s net worth stands at Rs 3,165 crore and 10 percent of it stands at Rs 316.5 crore. It also has a cash balance of Rs 162.6 crore and current investments of Rs 811 crores, as on Dec. 31, as per exchange filings.
• Cadila Healthcare: Zydus Cadila received a final approval from the U.S. FDA for Valsartan and Hydrochlorothiazide tablets.
• Mirc Electronics: Vishal Barot resigned as the CFO’s with effect from March 15.
• U.S. FDA classified inspection of Lupin’s arm Novel Laboratories’ U.S. facility as Official Action Indicated. The regulatory authority stated that the company will be subjected to regulatory action and it may withhold approval of any pending applications in which the facility is listed. This is the second OAI the pharma company has received as recently it’s Mandideep facility also received the same classification from USFDA.
• Punjab and Sind Bank said they will raise equity capital of Rs 500 crore via QIP
• Grasim Industries received demand worth Rs 5,872.13 Crore from the IT Department. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax raised this demand on account of dividend distribution tax. DCIT order stated that shares of demerged company amounted to dividend.
• DHFL’s Santosh Sharma resigned as the CFO’s effect from March 16. The company stated in the press release that he will be head of the corporate strategy team. The board also approved sale of 30.63 percent stake of its arm Avanse Financial Services to Warburg Pincus arm.
• Global PE Firm Warburg Pincus’ Arm to Acquire 80 percent stake in Avanse Financial Services. Plans to infuse Rs 300 crore via primary equity capital in DHFL’s promoter owned company. The company is an NBFC with 20 percent stake held by World Bank’s Arm International Finance Corporation, as stated in the press release.
• KPIT Technologies-Birlasoft Deal: Ratio of cost of acquisition for KPIT Technologies to be 43.36 percent while for BSL it will by 56.64 percent.
• Lakshmi Vilas Bank board approved allotment of 6.38 crore shares at Rs 72 per share aggregating to Rs 459 crore to qualified institutional buyers.
• Majesco board approved to sell company’s India Insurance Products and Services to its arm for Rs 24.4 crore.
• Vedanta arm Sterlite Copper appointed Pankaj Kumar as its CEO amid attempts to re-open its smelter in Southern India.
• Vodafone Idea: To hold board meet on March 20 to consider various matters related to Rs 25,000 crore rights issue.
• Jammu & Kashmir Bank: approved sale of 4.1 crore equity shares of PNB MetLife Insurance to Oman India Joint Investment Fund II for Rs 185 crore.
• Inox Leisure: Opens four news screen in an existing multiplex. Inox is now present in 67 cities with 137 multiplexes, 563 screens and a total seating capacity of 1.33 lakh seats across India.
• IRB Infrastructure: Has been issues provisional certificate for partial toll collection. Concession period is 26 years, while the project cost is Rs 3,370 crore.
• SAIL: CARE Ratings assigns CARE AA- to company’s long term bank facilities worth Rs 30,000 crore with ‘stable’ outlook.

• Company earnings include FedEx, China Telecom, Tencent, Porsche, BMW, Hermes, Tiffany, Micron, Nike and PetroChina.
• The Fed is expected to hold interest rates steady, announce the end of asset roll-off from its balance sheet, and lower projections for the number of interest rate hikes this year. The decision is due Wednesday.
• Central banks in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia are all scheduled for policy meetings.
• In the euro zone, purchasing manager survey numbers on Friday will give an indication of the health of the region’s industrial and service sectors at the end of the first quarter.

• Brent crude traded 0.18 percent lower at $67.04 per barrel.
• WTI crude slipped 0.1 percent to $58.46 a barrel.
• Gold dipped 0.1 percent to $1,300.71 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Nickel resumed gains after a one-day blip, ended 0.3 percent higher.
• Aluminium ended 0.3 percent lower at 0.32 percent lower.
• Lead ended lower for the second day, down 2.46 percent.
• Tin ended loser for the second day, down 0.45 percent.
• Copper resumed gains after a one-day blip, ended 0.4 percent higher.
• Zinc ended loser for the second day, down 1.2 percent lower.

Good Morning!

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose rose 0.31 percent to 11,510 as of 8:40 a.m.

Stocks in Asia struggled for traction on Monday as traders turned their focus to this week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. Treasuries steadied.

Stocks in Japan, China and Hong Kong posted modest gains and were little changed in Korea and Australia. U.S. futures slipped, after a positive finish to a strong week for the S&P 500 Index, its best since November.