Sensex, Nifty End Little Changed After Rallying For Three Days

Indian equity benchmarks ended a little changed on a volatile day, after rallying for three consecutive trading sessions.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 37,754.89 and the NSE Nifty 50 ended at 11,343.25.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of sellers. About 1,013 stocks fell and 731 shares advanced on National Stock Exchange.

Seven out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE ended higher, led by the NSE Nifty Realty Index’s 2.2 percent rally. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty IT Index was the top sectoral loser, down 0.54 percent.

About 22.5 lakh shares of Prestige Estates Projects changed hands in a single block, according to Bloomberg data. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Shares of eClerx Services rose as much as 6.5 percent to Rs 1,173.

The company plans to buy back equity shares worth Rs 262 crore, according to its stock exchange filing.

Trading volume was more than double, its 20-day average, according to Bloomberg data. The stock traded at 19 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

About 50 lakh shares of Indian Overseas Bank changed hands in a block deal, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Shares of the Essel Group companies—Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., Zee learn Ltd., Essel Propack Ltd., and Dish TV Ltd., Rallied in today’s trade.

European equities advanced after Brexit took a step toward a delay and China’s slowdown deepened with weak economic data.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. today signed of Definitive Binding Agreement with the Singapore-based Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pte Ltd. for the sale of its 100 percent stake in Delhi-Agra (DA) Toll Road Pvt Ltd., according to its stock exchange filing.

The company plans to use the entire capital to reduce its debts. “After the completion of the transaction for Delhi-Agra Toll Road, the debt of Reliance Infrastructure will reduce by 25 percent to less than Rs. 5,000 crore,” it said in a statement on the exchanges.

Shares of Reliance Industries extended gains for the fourth consecutive trading session, its longest gaining streak in over a month. The stock hit a new all time high at Rs 1,362.

The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate, Venezuela’s top customer in India, has capped oil purchases from the Latin American country and halted selling diluent following U.S. pressure to cripple President Nicolas Maduro’s government. (Read the full story here)

The Relative Strength Index was above 70, indicating that the stock may be overbought, according to Bloomberg data.

• Indian equity benchmark Sensex erased gains, while Nifty continued to trade lower.
• The 31-sare index fluctuated between gains and losses to trade a little changed at 37,766 and the 50 share index traded at 11,330, down 0.1 percent.
• The market breadth was tilted in favour of sellers. About 996 stocks fell and 676 shares advanced on NSE.

Rajesh Exports Ltd. won an export order worth Rs 1,079 crore. The order has been procured from a wholesaler in Middle East for further distribution to the global markets. The order is to be completed by June 2019.

Shares of Lemon Tree Hotels rose as much as 3.5 percent to Rs 85.90.

The company signed a non-binding agreement to acquire 100 percent stake in Key Hotels. The current portfolio of the target company stands at owning/managing 21 hotels with 1,911 rooms in 19 cities.

Brent crude extended gains for the fourth consecutive trading session to trade near a four-month high.

The NSE Nifty 50 Index swung between gains and losses after a positive open.

About 51.1 lakh shares or 4.8 percent equity of Laurus Labs changed hands in a single block, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Shares of the McDonald’s chain operator in West and South India extended gains for the fifth consecutive trading session, its longest gaining streak since December.

The stock rose as much as 8.2 percent, the most since Nov. 14, 2018, to Rs 443 on Bombay Stock Exchange.

The Relative Strength Index was above 70, indicating that the stock may be overbought, Bloomberg data showed.

Shares of Arvind Fashions was locked in upper circuit of 5 percent for the fourth consecutive trading session. The stock has gained nearly 22 percent since its listing last week.

Shares of Lupin erased its opening gains and fell as much as 1 percent to Rs 755.50.

The U.S. FDA classified inspection of Lupin’s Mandideep facility as Official Action Indicated. The regulatory authority stated that the pharma company will be subjected to regulatory action and it may withhold approval of any pending applications in which the facility is listed. The company said this classification by the U.S. FDA will not have on disruption of supplies or existing revenues from the facility.

Trading volume was 7.8 times its 30-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The fell nearly 3 percent in the past five trading sessions and declined 5 percent in the past 30 days.

Shares of the Domino’s Pizza operator in India halted a two-day fall and rose as much as 3.3 percent to Rs 1,369.

The company’s promoter Jubilant Consumer Private Limited plans to sell 40 lakh shares at the floor price of Rs 1,272.6 apiece, aggregating to Rs 503.8 crore via secondary placement of shares. The floor price is at a discount of 4 percent as compared to current market price.

Trading volume was more than nine times its 20-day average, according to Bloomberg data. The stock traded at 56 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

Shares of HDFC Bank extended gains for the sixth consecutive trading session, its longest gaining streak since September 2017. The stock rose as much as 0.94 percent to hit an all-time high at Rs 2,247.

Trading volume was more than double its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The Relative Strength Index was above 70, indicating that the stock may be overbought.

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains for the fourth consecutive trading session, following the gains in most of their Asian peers.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.4 percent to 37,904.08 and the NSE Nifty rose as much as 0.36 percent to 11,382.55.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 906 stocks advanced and 539 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

Ten out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Media Index’s 1.1 percent gains. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty FMCG Index was the top sectoral loser, down 0.07 percent.

Forward premiums, especially at the three-year segment, could come down with dollar inflows at the RBI's set to bring down the costs of hedging, traders said. The rupee rose on Wednesday to end at 69.54 per dollar, up 0.3 percent.

Indian bonds are likely to come under pressure after the RBI late on Wednesday evening announced it plans to carry out a dollar auction which will seek to inject $5 billion in rupee funds into the banking system. That is likely to be less than what the RBI's current open market bond purchases are injecting and thus could lead to a sell-off, especially at the longer end.

The yield on India’s most-traded sovereign bonds due January 2028 rose four basis points to 7.55 percent on Wednesday while the yield on new benchmark 10-year debt due January 2029 rose two basis points to 7.38 percent.

F&O Cues

• Nifty March futures closed trading at 11,367, premium of 25 points.
• Max open interest for March 28 series at 11,400 Call, (open interest at 25 lakh shares)
• Max open interest for March 28 series at 11,000 Put, (open interest at 39.9 lakh shares)

Stocks In F&O Ban

In Ban

• IDBI Bank
• Jet Airways
• Reliance infrastructure
• Reliance Power

New in Ban

• BEML

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.82 versus 1.81.
• Bank Nifty PCR at 1.6 versus 1.54 .

CLSA on Voltas

• Maintained ‘Sell’ with a price target of Rs 500.
• Voltbek JV seeing good response with some offtake in summer demand.
• Seeing a reduction in their AC inventory by approximately one month.
• Refrigerators and Washing Machines will be the focus segments for the JV.

Macquarie on Lupin

• Maintained ‘Underperform’ with a price target of Rs 716.
• Expect warning letter for Mandideep Unit 1 within the next two months.
• Believe existing US sales from this facility are 5–6 percent of Lupin’s total US sales.
• Only solace is there are no pending DMF or ANDA filings.

CLSA on Telecom

• Sector consolidation will compel lower spectrum prices.
• Lower spectrum prices will boost sector returns.
• Industry divided on spectrum; Airtel remains sector pick.

On Jubilant Foodworks

Edelweiss

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 1,529.
• Enthused by the launch of Chinese QSR, await granular details.
• Mgmt. have played on Jubilant Foodworks’ strengths.
• Menu attractively priced, offers free delivery and strategic location.

JPMorgan

• Maintained ‘Overweight’ with a price target of Rs 1,430.
• Foray into more formats to add to medium-to-long-term growth drivers.
• Expect Jubilant to be prudent and utilize learnings to ensure a limited impact on financials.
• If Jubilant decides to scale up this format, it could leverage its existing scale.

On Aviation

JPMorgan

• Groundings will play favorably for industry yield growth.
• Cancellation of aircraft orders would impact growth plans considerably.
• Replacing grounded aircraft on short-term lease would drive up rental costs.

Edelweiss

• SpiceJet faces largest immediate impact due to Boeing 737 grounding.
• Ebitdar for 2019-20 sensitivity higher for SpiceJet compared to Jet Airways.
• Prefer IndiGo as its recent focus on international routes to enable healthy PLF.

• Indo Count Industries, Manpasand Beverages price band revised to 10 percent.
• Kwality to move into ASM Framework.
• Asian Granito, Garden Silk Mills, Satin Creditcare Network, Mangalam Organics to move into short term ASM Framework.

• Reliance Power: IDBI Trusteeship Services invokes pledge of 50.65 crore shares (2.21 percent) on March 13.
• JSW Steel releases pledges of 1.96 crore shares between March 7-11.
• Aurobindo Pharma promoter K Niiyananda Redyy creates pledge of 5 lakh shares on March 11.
• GATI promoter group TCI Finance invokes pledge of 32.9 lakh shares on March 8.
• Reliance Communications: Lenders sold 12 crore shares or 4.34 percent equity of promoters by invoking pledge. Promoter holding reduced to 37.57 percent.
• Reliance Power: Lenders sold 4.1 crore shares or 1.47 percent equity of promoters by invoking pledge. Promoter holding reduced to 59.8 percent.

• Arvind Fashions: Vanguard Funds sell 7.01 lakh shares or 1.32 percent equity at Rs 718.2 each.
• Reliance Communications: IndusInd Bank sold 1.4 crore shares or 0.51 percent equity at Rs 4.97 each.

• State-Run MSTC Ltd. IPO gets 5 percent demand on first day of sale, offer closes March 15.

• The U.S. FDA classified inspection of Lupin’s Mandideep facility as Official Action Indicated. The regulatory authority stated that the pharma company will be subjected to regulatory action and it may withhold approval of any pending applications in which the facility is listed. The company said this classification by the U.S. FDA will not have on disruption of supplies or existing revenues from this facility.
• Wipro’s Azim Premji increased commitment in philanthropic arm ‘Azim Premji Foundation’ by renouncing more of his personal assets and earmarking for the foundation’s endowment. The press release stated that he has done this additionally by earmarking 34 percent shares in Wipro valued at Rs 52,750 crores.
• Jubilant Foodworks promoter Jubilant Consumer Private Limited to sell 40 lakh shares at the floor price of Rs 1,272.6 apiece, aggregating to Rs 503.8 crore via secondary placement of shares. The floor price is at a discount of 4 percent as compared to current market price.
• Spice Jet said it was rationalizing and optimizing the use of its Boeing 737 NG and Bombardier Q400 aircraft to address the current situation and minimize inconvenience to its passengers. The aviation company has rounded its entire B737 Max fleet as per DGCA directions. (Bloomberg News)
• Reliance Industries said its U.S. unit halted all supplies of Diluent to Venezuala’s PDVSA and has not increased any oil purchases from the Venezualan company. The company also stated that it will continue dialogue with U.S. to ensure compliance. (Bloomberg News)
• HCL Technologies said it will acquire U.S. based company ‘Strong—Bridge Envision’ for increasing the company’s digital solutions portfolio.
• GE&TD awarded grid modernization project by Rajasthan’s Transmission Grid. Company to provide real-time data monitoring solutions to Gujarat’s state utility.
• Star Cement received Rs 115 crore of freight subsidy claims by the central government. The company also stated in its press release that it expects further subsidy of Rs 42.6 crore in a week.
• Alembic Pharma said it will consider raising capital via NCDs worth Rs 150 crore on March 19.
• HDFC Life Insurance OFS: Retail issue received a 107 percent demand for shares offered. (Bloomberg News)
• DCM Shriram commissioned 30 MW Power Plant in Uttar Pradesh and it has started selling power to the Grid with effect from Feb. 28.
• Lemon Tree Hotels signed a non-binding agreement to acquire 100 percent stake in Key Hotels. The current portfolio of the target company stands at owning/managing 21 hotels with 1,911 rooms in 19 cities.
• Sun Pharma arm increased its stake in Russia-based PJSC Biosintez from 85 percent to 97 percent for $3.2 million.
• Bajaj Consumer Care appointed Bain and Company as management consultant to formulate front end strategy for growth.
• Jet Airways said that additional five aircrafts have been grounded due to non-payment to lessors.
• Bliss GVS Pharma board approved increasing FPI investment limit from 24 percent to 74 percent.
• Deep Industries received an order from ONGC worth Rs 91.75 crore. ONGC has hired rig for Ahmedabad assets for three years.

Media Reports

• Zee may sell 20 percent stake to Sony for Rs 13,000 crore. (Mint)

• Chinese retail sales, fixed-asset investment and industrial production data are scheduled for release Thursday and the National People’s Congress is set to wrap up on Friday.
• Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will speak on Friday, after he and his board conclude their discussions on monetary policy.

• West Texas Intermediate crude increased 0.1 percent to $58.34 a barrel. It jumped 2.4 percent in the previous session.
• Gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,309.71 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Nickel ended higher for the second day, up 0.8 percent.
• Aluminium ended higher for the second day, up 1.7 percent.
• Lead ended higher for the second day, up 2.1 percent.
• Tin resumed decline after a one-day rally, down 0.8 percent.
• Copper ended a little changed after rallying for two consecutive trading sessions.
• Zinc ended higher for the third day, up 0.3 percent.

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, traded a little changed at 11,386 as of 8:20 a.m.

Asian stocks climbed, following U.S. equities higher, as data signaling resilience in the American economy gave some comfort amid recent signs of deteriorating global growth.

Japanese shares posted the largest gains as trading began, with equities in Australia and South Korea also higher.

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