Sensex, Nifty Halt Longest Losing Streak In Over A Month

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.. the country's largest pharmaceutical company by market value, plans to acquire Japan-based Pola Pharma Inc. for $1 million in cash, according to its stock exchange notification.

Indian equity benchmarks snapped a three-day decline, their longest losing streak in over a month. The S&P BSE Sensex Index closed 1.07 percent higher at 35,334.08 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index ended at 10,628.60, up 0.97 percent.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. Nine out off 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty FMCG index's 2.36 percent gain. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Metal Index was the top sectoral loser, down 1.32 percent.

Shares of HEG rose 0.6 percent to Rs 4,375 after its company's board approved share buyback proposal.

The company plans to buy back up to 3.41 percent of paid-up capital for Rs 750 crore at Rs 5,500 per share, according to its stock exchange filing.

Housing & Urban Development Corp (HUDCO) reported a net profit of Rs 282 crore, an increase of 6 percent from the year-ago period, according to its stock exchange filing. Shares of the company rose as much as 5.2 percent to Rs 46.30.

Key earnings highlights (Q2, YoY)

• Net profit up 6.2 percent at Rs 282 crore.
• NII up 24 percent at Rs 501.4 crore.

Cox & Kings

• Stock rose as much as 15.5 percent to Rs 202.
• Trading volume was more than 20 times its 20-day average.

AstraZeneca Pharma

• Stock fell as much as 7.2 percent to Rs 1,391.
• Trading volume was quadruple its 20-day average.

FDC

• Stock rose as much as 7.8 percent to Rs 200.15.
• Trading volume was more than 80 times its 20-day average.

Orient Refractories

• Stock rose as much as 9.5 percent to Rs 265.
• Trading volume was more than seven times its 20-day average.

Shares of the FMCG major snapped a three-day decline and rose as much as 3.9 percent to Rs 1,740, its highest levels in nearly three months.

The stock traded at 60 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year, Bloomberg data showed.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. said that its Africa unit—Airtel Africa has appointed eight global banks—appointed JPMorgan, Citigroup, BofA ML, Absa Group, Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and Standard Bank Group, according to its stock exchange filing.

Shares of the company rose as much as 3.4 percent to Rs 338.90. The stock was the third-best performer on Sensex and Nifty.

Nifty’s 10,600 call option contract was among the most active option contracts on National Stock Exchange.

Premium on the contract fell 2.71 percent to Rs 43. Over 15.92 lakh shares were added to the open interest which stood at over 46.67 lakh shares.

DoT plea reiterates demand of Rs 2,900 crore bank guarantee for dues owed to them by Reliance Communications before the Reliance Communications-Reliance Jio deal goes through.

The Indian rupee erased gains to trade at 70.72 against the U.S. dollar.

About 18.9 lakh shares of South Indian Bank changed hands in two block deals, according to Bloomberg data. Buyers and sellers were not known immediately.

Investing five to six months before the elections in 2009 and 2014 earned an average three to six percent more than the Indian benchmark return in the five-year period to the next vote, Bloomberg reported quoting FundsIndia’s Head of Mutual Fund Research Vidya Bala. (Read the full story here)

Shares of Hotel Leela Venture hit an upper circuit of 20 percent, the most since in nearly 10 months, to Rs 20.

A consortium including Thailand’s Minor International Pcl is considering an investment of about $350 million in Indian hospitality firm Hotel Leelaventure Ltd., Bloomberg reported quoting person familiar with the matter. (more details here)

Trading volume was more than 40 times its 20-day average, according to Bloomberg data.

Shares of TCS were trading below 200-day moving average for the first time since July 2017.

• Indian equity benchmarks witnessed a volatile trade after a strong open.
• The S&P BSE Sensex Index traded at 35,014 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index traded at 10,525.
• About 946 stocks declined and 643 shares advanced on National STock Exchange.

The NSE Nifty IT Index extended decline for the fourth day and is set for its longest losing streak in four months due to the strengthening rupee.

The home currency strengthened for the eighth day and appreciated as much as 0.55 percent to 70.30 against the U.S. dollar.

Shares of the shipbuilding company rose as much as 7 percent to trade near a one-month high at Rs 390.

The company plans to buy back shares worth Rs 200 crore at Rs 455 apiece, according to its stock exchange notification.

Trading volume was 7.4 time sits 30-day moving average, Bloomberg data showed. The stock fell 27.6 percent so far this year compared to a 4 percent advance in the Sensex.

Shares of the earthmoving equipment maker extended gains for the second day and rose as much as 2.5 percent, to Rs 777, its highest levels since Sept. 18.

The company was awarded a contract worth Rs 3015 crore for supply of 378 Metro coaches, according to its stock exchange notification. The deliveries are scheduled to commence July 2020 until Sep 2022.

Trading volume was triple its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The stock has declined 55 percent in the past 12 months.

Shares of the oil marketing companies rallied today on lower crude oil prices. The Brent crude fell 6.69 percent on Friday to $58.41 a barrel, its lowest levels since October 2017.

Indian equity benchmarks opened higher, halting their three-day sell off. The S&P BSE Sensex Index rose as much as 0.58 percent to 35,184 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index rose as much as 0.55 percent to 10,584.95

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. Ten out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Media index's 0.86 percent gain. On the flipside, the NSE nifty IT Index was the only sectoral loser, down 0.4 percent.

The Indian rupee strengthened for the eighth straight day against the U.S. dollar. The home currency appreciated as much as 0.49 percent to 70.35 against the greenback.

F&O Cues

• Nifty November futures closed trading at 10525, discount of 2 points.
• Nifty November OI down 2.3 percent; Nifty Bank November OI down 28.1 percent.
• Max OI for November series at 10,700 Call, OI at 38.1 lakh shares.
• Max OI for November series at 10,000 Put, OI at 38.5 lakh shares.

Stocks In F&O Ban

• Adan Enterprises
• Adani Power
• Jet Airways
• DHFL

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.46 from 1.55.
• Nifty Bank PCR at 0.94 from 1.19.

• Axis Bank: Upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’; raised price target to Rs 730 from Rs 590
• ICICI Bank: Downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’; raised price target to Rs 390 from Rs 345
• HDFC Bank: Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 2,350 from Rs 2,398.
• Axis Bank’s ahead-of-the curve branch expansion to help NIM as growth picks up.
• Gap in RoE/growth outlook drives relative preference of Axis over ICICI.
• Downgraded ICICI Bank after the rally; Maintained ‘Buy’ on HDFC Bank due to underperformance.

• Adani Gas price band revised to 10 percent.
• Forbes & Co price band revised to 5 percent.
• Satia Industries to move into ASM Framework.

CIL Nova Petrochemicals

• Promoter Chiripal Manuj Ashokkumar acquired 1.5 lakh shares or 0.55 percent equity at Rs 21.8 each.
• Asia Investment Corporation Mauritius sold 1.5 lakh shares or 0.55 percent equity at Rs 21.8 each.

Talwalkers Lifestyles

• Aequitas Investment acquired 4.6 lakh shares or 1.50 percent equity at Rs 110 each.
• Aditya Birla Sun Life MF sold 4.6 lakh shares or 1.50 percent equity at Rs 110 each.

• Housing & Urban Development Corp.
• GIC Housing Finance

• HDFC Ergo in talks to buy Apollo Munich for an approx. valuation of Rs 2600 crore. (Economic Times)
• Indian Government notifies quadricycyles as non transport vehicles (PIB).

• Strides Pharma Science’s board approved investment of $15 million in its bio pharma arm Stelis, The company increased its stake from 36.25 percent to 38 percent. Stelis has completed the construction of its modern state of manufacturing facility at Bengaluru. The Drug Product block of this facility is in the final stages of validation and is expected to go commercial for manufacturing and high end CDMO services in the fourth quarter of financial year 2019, as stated in the company’s press release.
• Bharti Airtel’s Netherland arm received a tender for $995 million for the Senior Notes issued due 2023. The company says that up to $505 million principal amount of notes remain outstanding. The tele-company said the purpose of tender offer was to proactively manage its capital structure, reduce gross debt and leverage by acquiring the Notes funded out of equity proceeds and provide liquidity to Noteholders at a premium to the market. The Company also stated in their press release that proceeds of equity issuance of its African arm amounting to $1.25 billion from global investors is now fully realised and available as cash.
• Indian Oil Corporation’s finance director AK Sharma said that the company hopes to meet nine million tonnes of Iran oil import target for the financial year 2019. He also added that payment for Iran oil will be Rupees via the UCO Bank and the oil marketing company continues to absorb Re.1 per litre price on gasoline and diesel under pricing mechanism announced by the government. (Bloomberg News)
• Infosys’ arm announced successful completion of digital payment solutions to Cyprus based RCB Bank.
• Oriental Bank of Commerce intend to divest its stake in its Joint Venture – Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commercial Life Insurance at an appropriate time depending on the market conditions.
• BEML was awarded contract worth Rs 3015 crore for supply of 378 Metro coaches. The deliveries is scheduled to commence July 2020 until Sep 2022.
• India’s largest airline IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation will now charge for web check-in of all seats as carriers continue to look for ways to make up for higher costs.
• The S&P BSE Sensex will include HCL Technologies and Bajaj Finance from Dec. 24 in the index’s latest rejig. The two companies will replace Wipro and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, according to a notice on the BSE’s website.

• Rajasthan Polls: Congress expels 28 leaders, including former MLAs.
• 26/11 survivor recounts being in the room next to the terrorists’.
• Finance Ministry hopeful some banks will be out of PCA framework this fiscal.
• Government wants to discuss RBI ‘Governance Issues’ with central bank.
• Investors want RBI to push for fresh issue of shares by banks.
• Bond bulls return to India to fuel best quarter in over year.
• Jewelers find exports tough as India bank fraud squeezes credit.
• India eyes bigger share in global trade amid U.S.-China tensions.
• Asia’s liquidity squeeze is the worst since 2008.
• Theresa May gambles on personal campaign to win Brexit deal vote.
• Yes Bank and the missed wake-up call from IL&FS.
• Televisions, home appliances may get costlier from next month.

• Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping plan to meet at the G-20 summit in Argentina that kicks off on Friday.
• Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida speaks in New York on Tuesday and Chairman Jerome Powell addresses the New York Economic Club on Wednesday.
• Thursday sees the release of the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s November meeting.
• European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will address the European Parliament’s committee for economic and monetary affairs on Monday.

• The Bloomberg Commodity Index declined 1.7 percent to the lowest since July.
• Brent crude traded 0.9 percent higher at $59.30 a barrel.
• West Texas Intermediate crude sank 6.3 percent to $51.17 a barrel, the lowest in 13 months.
• Gold fell 0.4 percent to $1,223.48 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Aluminium rebounded to end 0.13 percent higher.
• Copper halted a two-day rally, down 0.77 percent.
• Zinc halted a two-day rally, down 2.4 percent lower.
• Nickel ended lower for the fifth day, down 0.5 percent.
• Lead ended lower for the second day, down 1.3 percent.
• Tin resumed declines, down 2.34 percent.

Good Morning!

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.2 percent to 10,576 as of 8:05 a.m.

Stocks in Asia were mixed, while U.S. equity futures rose, as markets appeared to take a breather after the recent sell-off. Shares in Hong Kong and South Korea rose, Japanese and Chinese equities were little changed, while Australia’s fell.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell.