Sensex Closes Nearly 200 Points Higher; Nifty Ends Above 11,000

Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for the third consecutive trading session.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.53 percent or nearly 200 points higher at 36,636.10 and the NSE Nifty 50 ended above 11,000 for the first time in a month.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 1,173 stocks advanced and 600 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

Nine out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Pharma Index’s 1.1 percent rally. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Media Index was the top sectoral loser, down 1.3 percent.

Shares of the cyber security solutions provider rose as much as 7.1 percent to Rs 240 apiece. The stock returned 16.1 percent in the last five sessions.

Quick Heal Technologies Ltd. will buyback 63.6 lakh equity shares or 9.02 percent equity at Rs 275 per share, according to its notification to the exchanges. Total buyback is worth Rs 175 crore.

The stock declined 19 percent in the past 12 months compared with an 8 percent gain in the BSE Sensex.

Shares of the cement-to-textiles conglomerate rose as much as 1.5 percent to Rs 822.20 apiece.

Grasim Industries signed definitive agreement with Soktas India Pvt. Ltd. for an enterprise value of Rs 165 crore, according to its exchange filing. Soktas is in the business of manufacturing and the distribution of premium cotton fabrics and reported revenue and Ebitda of Rs 186 crore and Rs 31 crore in 2017-18.

The stock declined 28 percent in the past 12 months compared to a 10 percent gain in the Sensex.

• Indian equity benchmarks traded at day’s high.
• The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.54 percent to 36,640 and the NSE Nifty 50 traded around 11,050.

About 11 lakh shares of ICICI changed hands in a block deal, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Shares of the PSU banks rallied in today’s trade, led by the gains in Jammu & Kashmir Bank.

Indian Hume Pipe bagged two Letter of Acceptance worth Rs 254.98 crore from Raipur Municipal Corporation, according to its stock exchange filing.

“The company received Letter of Acceptance of Rs 120.79 crore under Augmentation of Water Supply Scheme Phase-II, Package-IV of Municipal Corporation Raipur,” the statement said, adding that it also Letter of Acceptance of Rs 134.19 crore under Augmentation of Water Supply Scheme Phase-II, Package-V of Municipal Corporation Raipur.

Both the projects are to be completed within 18 months and the agreements will be signed in due course, it said.

About 11 lakh shares changed of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. hands in a block deal, Bloomberg data showed. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Shares of Dilip Buildcon extended gains for the fifth consecutive trading session. The stock rose as much as 11.6 percent to Rs 579.70.

Trading volume was more than five times its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The scrip gained 36 percent in the past five days and 76 percent in the past 30 days.

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Nifty’s 11,000 put option contract was among the most active Nifty option contracts on National Stock Exchange.

Premium on the contract fell 30.06 percent to Rs 34.90. Over 10.5 lakh shares were added to the open interest which stood at over 18.9 lakh shares.

• Adani Ports: About 17.7 lakh shares changed hands in a single block.
• Gujarat State Petronet: About 11.9 lakh shares changed hands in a single block.
• ONGC: About 10.2 lakh shares changed hands in a block deal.

Buyers and sellers were not known immediately

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of the multiline insurance company extended gains for the third consecutive trading session and are poised for the longest gaining streak in over a month. The stock rose as much as 14.8 percent, the most since July 2018, to Rs 212.

Trading volume was almost 100 times its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The stock had formed a bullish “Double Bottom” chart pattern, according to Bloomberg, which indicates that the price may rise to the range of Rs 190-192 from the yesterday’s Rs-184.60 close.

Shares of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation rose as much as 21.2 percent, the most in over five months, to Rs 162.30.

Independent chartered accountant firm TP Ostwal & Associates said that the company has not promoted any of the shell companies alleged by media outlet Cobrapost. However, the auditor did find some lapses in due diligence related to loan sanctions and in monitoring of fund used by the borrowers. (Read the full story here).

Trading volume was 5.2 times its 30-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The stock had declined 37 percent so far this year compared to a 1.5 percent gain in the Sensex.

Shares of the auto parts maker fell as 9.8 percent to Rs 1,136.55.

The company’s promoter plans to sell 63.6 lakh equity shares or 4.52 percent equity with greenshoe option of additional 41.9 lakh equity shares or 2.98 percent equity to non-retail investors on March 6 and retail investors on March 7. The floor price for the offer for sale is set at Rs 1,100 – a discount of 12.6 percent.

Trading volume was 58.9 times its 30-day average, Bloomberg data showed.

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains for the third consecutive trading session.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.39 percent to 36,586.02 and the NSE Nifty 50 rose as much as 0.45 percent to 11,036.70.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of sellers. About 1,536 stocks advanced and 333 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

All the 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty FMCG Index’s 0.98 percent gain.

The Indian rupee opened lower against the U.S. dollar. The home currency depreciated as much as 0.16 percent to 70.6 against the greenback.

Most Asian currencies are in the red but the absence of a very strong news trigger should keep the local unit in a range of 70.10-70.70 a dollar.

A drop in crude oil prices and the U.S. Treasury yields may help sovereign bonds in the session today. Yield on the most-traded debt due January 2028 is likely to stay in a range of 7.52-7.58 percent in the session. Further, investors will also be watching for the cutoffs at the treasury bill auction in the day.

F&O Cues

• Nifty March futures closed trading at 11,033, premium of 46 points.
• Max open interest for Mar. 28 series at 11,000 Call, open interest at 18.1 lakh shares.
• Max open interest for Mar. 28 series at 10,600 Put, open interest at 22.4 lakh shares.

Stocks In F&O Ban

• Reliance Power
• Wockhardt

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.76 versus 1.69.
• Bank Nifty PCR at 1.87 versus 1.57.

• Asian Granito to consider fund raising via issue of equity shares or convertible warrants.
• HDFC and Vedanta to consider dividend.

• CESC Ventures: International New Discovery Fund sold 1.48 lakh shares at Rs 516.44 each.
• Spencers Retail: MFS Emerging Markets Equity Fund sold 5.75 lakh shares at Rs 150.1 each.
• LA Opala: Steadview Capital Mauritius Ltd sold 7.53 lakh shares or 0.7 percent equity at Rs 200 each.

Relaxo Footwear

• SBI MF bought 37.2 lakh shares or 3 percent equity at Rs 715 each.
• Promoter Mukand Lal Dua sold 20 lakh shares or 1.61 percent equity at Rs 715 each.
• Promoter Ramesh Kumar Dua sold 20 lakh shares or 1.61 percent equity at Rs 715 each.

Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilizers

• Edelweiss Multi Strategy Funds Management Pvt Ltd – Hexagon sold 1.55 lakh shares or 0.5 percent equity at Rs 130.14 each.

SP Apparels

• Edelweiss Multi Strategy Funds Management Pvt Ltd – Hexagon sold 1.68 lakh shares or 0.65 percent equity at Rs 253.22 each.

• Endurance Technologies’ promoter said it will sell 63.6 lakh equity shares or 4.52 percent equity with greenshoe option of additional 41.9 lakh equity shares or 2.98 percent equity to non-retail investors on March 6 and retail investors on March 7. The floor price for the offer for sale is set at Rs 1,100 – a discount of 12.6 percent.
• Edelweiss Financial Services: CDPQ to invest over Rs 1,800 crore into ECL Finance, the NBFC arm of Edelweiss.
• HCC promoter pledged additional 78.16 lakh equity shares or 0.52 percent equity with IDBI Trusteeship.
• Blue Star’s B Thiagarajan was elevated to the position of Managing Director with effect from April 1, 2019. He earlier served as the Joint MD of the company.
• GATI Lenders invoked 26,000 shares pledged by promoters on Feb. 28.
• Bank of Maharashtra: RBI levied a penalty of Rs 2 crore delayed implementation of SWIFT related operational controls.
• Five banks faced a total penalty of Rs 10 crore from the Reserve Bank for non-compliance with various directions. Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and Canara Bank have been penalised by the central bank for not complying with directions on global transaction messaging software Swift. Allahabad Bank was fined for non-compliance of directions with regard to Nostro accounts.
• Indian Energy Exchange: On an all-India basis, the energy supplied in February 2019 at 95 BU (billion units) registered marginal increase of 3 percent from 92 BU compared to last year. The electricity market at IEX traded 2,879 MU (million units) in February registering a decline of 15 percent over 3,343 MU last year.
• Sun Pharma: Raksha Valia on a net basis pledged additional 95.6 lakh equity shares with Citicorp. Shanghvi Finance released pledge on 11.7 lakh equity shares.
• Grasim Industries signed definitive agreement with Soktas India Pvt Ltd. for an enterprise value of Rs 165 crore. SIPL is in the business of manufacturing and the distribution of premium cotton fabrics. SIPL reported revenue and Ebitda of Rs 186 crore and Rs 31 crore in 2017-18.
• Reliance Capital: ICRA downgraded company’s short-term debt programme rating by one notch to A1 with negative implications from A1+. Downgrade was due to refinancing risk of short term maturities and delay in monetising the noncore investments. Company considers the rating action completely unjustified and inappropriate.
• Reliance Home Finance: ICRA downgraded company’s short-term debt programme rating by one notch to A1 with negative implications from A1+. Downgrade was due to change in rating of parent company. Company considers the rating action completely unjustified and inappropriate.
• Quick Heal Technologies to buyback 63.6 lakh equity shares or 9.02 percent equity at Rs 275 per share. Total buyback is worth Rs 175 crore, i.e., 23.87 percent of networth.
• Bharat Forge, RK Forging and GNA Axles in focus as North America Class 8 truck orders stood at 16,700 units versus 40,185 units (YoY), 15,642 units (MoM).

DHFL releases Independent CA Report on CobraPost allegations:

• Findings suggests that DHFL has not created shell companies and diverted funds.
• Auditor did find some lapses in relation to pre-sanction due diligence and in monitoring of post disbursal end use of funds by the borrowers.
• Auditor does not find merit in allegations of loans said to be part of Sahana group and/or Wadhawan group.
• Allegation of political considerations is baseless and without merit.
• No evidence found in relation to allegations of tax fraud.

• Bank of Canada Governor is expected to keep rates on hold Wednesday due to lingering uncertainty on housing and investment, while sticking to his message that borrowing costs eventually need to head higher.
• European Central Bank policy makers are expected to leave rates unchanged amid a deteriorating outlook. President Mario Draghi will hold a news conference on Thursday after the decision.
• The U.S. jobs report Friday may show hiring moderated in February. Nonfarm payrolls may have increased by 185,000 while the jobless rate fell to 3.9 percent, according to estimates.

• Brent crude ended 0.76 percent lower $65.36 per barrel.
• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7 percent to $56.16 a barrel.
• Gold added less than 0.1 percent to $1,288.21 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Nickel ended higher for the third consecutive trading session, up 2.9 percent.
• Aluminium ended 0.05 percent lower.
• Copper ended 1.1 percent higher.
• Lead ended lower for the third consecutive trading session, down 0.57 percent.
• Zinc ended 1.05 percent lower.
• Tin ended 0.54 percent higher.

Good Morning!

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.21 percent to 11,056.50 as of 8:27 a.m.

Asian stocks traded mixed Wednesday after their U.S. peers struggled to make headway in the absence of market-moving catalysts.

Shares in Japan and Korea slipped, while stocks in Australia, Hong Kong and China posted modest gains, after the S&P 500 Index closed little changed.

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